


Two and a Half Villains

by Welcome_to_chilis



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Genre: Canon Divergence - Alternate Ending, Found Family, M/M, Seriously what the hell was going on with the villain side of FSA?, Shadow Link has Big Son energy, Team as Family, The gang has one braincell and it belongs to Shadow Link, Two Dorks and Their Shadow Son, no beta we die like men, slow burn?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23282188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welcome_to_chilis/pseuds/Welcome_to_chilis
Summary: An alternate telling of the story of Four Swords Adventures following the three major villains of the game: Ganondorf, Vaati, and Shadow Link.Hijinks ensue.
Relationships: Ganondorf/Vaati (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 36





	1. Village of the Blue Maiden

“…”

“Vaati.”

“…. Mmm”

“Vaati!’

“Mmehhhhh”

“VAATI!”

**_SLAM_ **

Bloodshot red eyes snapped open, messy, unevenly cut purple hair thankfully obscuring the merciless morning light that had started flitting through the windows. The scent of milk-ale and vomit assaulted his nostrils, daring him to gag. Turning to face the source of the angry voice caused his head to pound as the room began to spin again. The face that greeted him was that of the almost abjectly furious young Gerudo that he’s come to know as “Ganondorf”, though he can’t recall calling him by his name proper, rather he preferred to refer to him as either “Gan” or “Mom” if he was feeling facetious. Beside him a barstool sat, knocked over and slightly damaged.

“… Do you want to knock over my seat as well or are you done with your temper tantrum?” The mage smirked, maintaining his composure despite his intense hangover.

“You—!” Gan grabbed him by the front of his stolen dark vest and took a deep breath before continuing, “Where. Is. Shadow Link?”

“Eh, no idea,” Vaati cocked an eyebrow and shrugged noncommittally, “I told the kid to take a break and make some friends.”

“Oh? So, you’re the reason HE’S BEEN KIDNAPPING OTHER CHILDREN?!” Gan lifted the confused purple man up by his collar, knocking over the barstool he’d spent the night on, fuming. 

“Kidnapping—hah, you’re fucking kidding me,” The mage chuckled and began rubbing his left temple while gesturing with his right hand, “You’re mad about—about what? That the boy takes more after me than after you?!”

“I’m _livid_ that the _Demon God of Wind_ that I so charitably **_freed_** is shirking responsibility with **_my underling_** to partake in fucking _playtime_!” Gan released the mage, turning around and gesturing to the destroyed tavern that be began to walk around, carefully minding the giant hole in the ground, “I’m furious that you’re both wasting your energy on **bullshit** like this instead of the task at hand! It’s like you’re not even trying!”

 _Of course I’m not trying, you’re fighting a losing battle dumbass._ Vaati refrained from voicing as he rolled his eyes, “Please, you’re being rather dramatic about this, which—if I might say—is anything **_but_** bullshit.”

“What—? Explain.”

 _Caught him._ Vaati smirked, straightening his clothes and dusting himself off, “Well, let us think about this shall we? You claim that hero-boy defeated you in a former life, correct?”

“Well yes, but—!”

“Hold your explanations for just a moment there, will you Ganny?” Vaati placed finger over Gan’s mouth, much to the Triforce bearer’s annoyance, “As best as I can recall, I didn’t exactly account for the green lunatic and I’m willing to bet that your past incarnations either didn’t as well **_or_** severely underestimated him.”

“Well—That—It wouldn’t—It was—” Gan’s rage deflated into flustered babbling, as though he was searching his mind for some accurate rebuttal but was coming back with unsatisfactory results. Vaati only crossed his arms, a smug Cheshire smile forming on his lips.

“That’s all I need to hear,” Vaati walked behind the bar and began searching what liquor remained beneath, “The kid shares Link’s likeness perfectly, whatever mayhem he generates will be attributed back to that little pest and he’ll find it harder to get anywhere without first cleaning up Shadow’s mess, the more time we buy from it the greater our chance of success will be.”

“Well yes, but—!”

“We have the Castle— ** _You’re welcome, by the way_** —and the sages,” Vaati reemerged from beneath the bar, jug of ale in hand, “The jolly green fuckwit has yet to make a move if my sources are to be believed, all that’s left is to find the keys to my old palace and we’re basically in the clear. _Relax_.”

As if to punctuate his advice, Vaati began to drink directly from the jug much to Ganon’s horror. After successfully downing a third of the jug he set it down, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before catching a glimpse of Ganon’s shocked, revolted expression.

“What?”

“It’s fucking dawn!” Gan motioned to the light coming through the window.

“So? I’m hungover.” Vaati shrugged.

“SO YOU DRINK MORE?” Gan looked like he was about to have an aneurism.

“… Ye Olde Hangover cure.” Vaati smirked.

“Ye Olde Full of Shit.” Gan cocked his head and crossed his arms but couldn’t stop that small smile that played on his lips.

“Alright you caught me,” Vaati put up his hands and laughed, “Let’s grab Shadow and go torment the next village, eh?”

On their way out, Vaati waved his hand and muttered something seemingly incoherent to Ganon as some of the destruction undid itself. The barkeep outside stared at the two men with wide, fearful eyes as they passed, beginning to shake as Vaati stopped and turned his attention towards him.

“Hey, barkeep, here,” The mage tossed the frightened man a silver rupee, “Fixed what I could, that’s for the ale and anything that’s still broken, should about cover it but if not just put in on my tab for the next time.”

“N-next time?!”

“Yeah, so you’d best not tell anyone I was here, right?” Vaati felt a sadistic smirk creep onto his face.

“R-right!”

With that, Vaati continued towards the portal spot to the Dark World with Ganon, pulling out the Moon Pearl he was given.

“Where’d you get a silver rupee?” Gan asked.

“Closet in Hyrule Castle,” Vaati shrugged as he held the pearl up, “It was with the clothes I stole.”

The pearl shattered and its dust settled around them, creating a glowing blue portal that warbled around them and the two were disoriented as their reality shifted into the warped one they now found themselves. Both men stumbled a bit, grabbing each other for support as they tried to walk before becoming acclimated to their new surroundings.

“Hey what are you two doing? Is it a dance thing?!” Shadow’s high-pitched cheerful voice startled both mage and mastermind and the two men ended up stumbling to the ground.

“Ow,” Vaati sat up, rubbing his head, “Yeah, it was a dance, maybe Gan here can teach it to you someday.”

“Hey!” Gan shot up indignantly, “I’ll have you know that as a warrior of the Gerudo I am an _excellent_ dancer! This fumble would’ve never happened had we actually been dancing!”

“But Master Vaati said you were dancing.” Shadow pouted and crossed his arms.

“First off, it’s still just Vaati kid,” The mage laughed as he stood up, “Second, Gan’s just self-conscious about his dancing skills so let’s not tease him about it, yeah?”

“IT WAS NOT A DANCE!”

“Ohhhhhh,” Shadow nodded and uncrossed his arms, “Totally wasn’t a dance, got it!”

Ganon crossed his arms and glared intensely at the smug purple prick beside him, who in turn put his hands up as though he was sorry but couldn’t suppress the laugh that gave away his true feelings on the matter.

“I hate you.” Gan stated plainly before turning his attention back to Shadow Link, “As for you, I have an important mission for you.”

“Whoa, really???” Shadow’s eyes lit up and he looked like he was about to start bouncing from place to place, “What is it? Tell me! What is it, whatisitwhatisitwhat—”

“Now, now,” Gan put a hand up to halt the hyperactive shadow, “You’ve done some valuable work here, so I’ve decided that it would be beneficial for you to expand your playtime sandbox to the whole of Hyrule.”

“Wha—Really?!?” Without a moment for Ganon to elaborate Shadow began rambling, “Do I get more cool weapons?! Do I get to set things on fire?! Can I throw a cuckoo into Death Mountain?! Can I—”

“I mean I can make those bombs you carry absolutely ridiculously large.” Vaati smiled as Gan gave him a look that conveyed: _Are you sure that’s a good idea?!_

“Whoa!” Shadow ran over to Vaati and began to assail him with questions, “Can you make anything? Can you enchant anything? Can you make my boots make me run faster?!”

“Yes, yes and yes.” Vaati chuckled at the awe Shadow was regarding him with.

“However,” Gan cleared his throat, “You are not to attack the Gerudo settlement, nor are you to attack any Gerudo you come across.”

Shadow nodded enthusiastically, however Vaati raised an eyebrow at the limit, gears turning in his mind as he regarded his associate curiously.

 _Didn’t they cast him out?_ Vaati thought, _Shouldn’t he want revenge for such a slight? He is rather arrogant. Strange._

Regardless, he didn’t argue with the ruling, he didn’t have a reason to. Besides, Shadow was happy with it, so how could he complain. After they returned to the world of light he closed the portal and reassembled the broken Moon Pearl, laughing to himself slightly as he chucked the thing far into the forest.

 _Good luck finding that you little shits_. With that passing thought Vaati turned his attention back to the young shade who was bounding with excitement. That excitement stopped, however, as they were making moves to leave. The mage took pause, trying to assess the possible causes of the boy’s dismay before landing on the likely candidate.

“You’re going to miss your new friends, huh?” Vaati asked, chuckling internally at the look Ganon shot him at referring to the kidnapped children as Shadow’s “friends”.

“I don’t mean to be ungrateful.” Shadow looked down, “I really am excited to explore more, there’s even this thing north of here that I was going to check out! I think they called it The Eastern Temple or something.”

“What Eastern—” Before Ganon could finish that thought, Vaati quickly brought a hand up to shush him, looking back at him before gesturing to the downcast kid. Ganon let out a defeated sigh, “Shame we can’t have you in two places at once.”

“Wait—Gan—You’re a genius!” Vaati’s eyes lit up with a mischievous glint, “Here, give me the Dark Mirror of yours!”

Both Ganon and Shadow looked at each other, perplexed, before Ganon handed Vaati the Dark Mirror, watching him closely. Vaati inspected the mirror, checking the runes and patterns etched into it and getting a feel for the magic surrounding the device. He looked over at Shadow Link for a moment before turning his attention back over to the mirror, holding it out as he began the incantation. A burst of wind shot from his spot and the ground began to rumble, causing Shadow and Ganon to grab hold of one another as a large altar materialized around the mirror, a glowing eye opening from the top of it as a perfect copy of Shadow Link sprang forth. The clone took a moment to look around before spotting himself next to Ganon, both shadow and Gerudo stunned to silence. The two shades took an astounded step towards one another, reaching out to poke each other. At the realization that there were—in fact—two of them now, both Shadows began to giggle, faces lighting up as they hugged each other.

“You can make clones???” The first Shadow laughed in disbelief, looking over at the wind demon, “Can you make more?!”

“Oh no, dear Shadow,” Vaati paused dramatically as Shadow looked down, waiting just a second longer before continuing, “I don’t make the clones, you do. Here, think about it again, focus on being in three places at once.”

Shadow Link’s eyes widened before he quickly closed them, focusing hard exactly as told. The eye glowed and two more clones sprung out from it. The two took a moment to look around before the four shadows began laughing with delight. Ganon stood, staring at the mage once again in awe and horror, just as he had back at Hyrule Castle. Vaati caught his gaze this time and the two stood there for a moment, their minds racing for something to say before their mutual attention was quickly taken away by the four shadows.

“Hey, Master—I mean Vaati”

“Master Ganon’s staring off into the Sacred Realm too!”

“Are they okay?!”

“Maybe I should poke one of them?”

“That won’t be necessary!” Ganon coughed, “I was—uh—thinking! We could use this newfound ability to cover Hyrule at an exponential rate! Good work Shadow—Shadows?”

Vaati let a laugh escape himself as he looked back over at Shadow Link, looking between the boy and the Dark Mirror, “Feel free to make as many clones as you wish right now to get the ball rolling, once we get to my old palace I can setup a more permanent station for you for the Dark Mirror.”

“Really?” Shadow and his clones said in unison, eyes lighting up before the original’s face was painted by confusion, “Wait, but what if I need more clones before we get to your palace?”

“Here,” Ganon cut in before Vaati could answer, handing Shadow a glowing blue stone, “If ever you need anything, you can contact me with this stone, now go have fun, Vaati and I need to examine this Eastern Temple to make sure that it’s safe for you to be in.”

The group of shadow clones nodded and Shadow Link focused on making near a dozen more clones before Vaati had to remove the mirror from the slowly dissolving altar. The clones started to head off in search of something to do, but before they could leave the first Shadow stopped for a minute, turning around and running back to Ganon and Vaati, giving both shocked men a hug before continuing with his quest.

“Perhaps you’re softer than I first thought,” Vaati handed back the Dark Mirror to Ganon, a smile playing on his lips, “Unless you have an ulterior motive for wanting to explore the Western Palace?”

“Eastern Temple,” Ganon corrected, “And for your information I do have an ulterior motive.”

“Oh really? What?” Vaati snorted, “And don’t say “some Goddess dammed peace and quiet” because we both know that isn’t happening with me around.”

“Hah, please, I could only dream of silence at this point,” Ganon laughed, “No, no, this matter is more—well, more selfish.”

“And it is—?”

“You’ll just have to go with me to find out.”

_Damn it_


	2. Western Palace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vaati and Ganon explore a dungeon. Tingle makes a very, very brief appearance.

“SHIT—FUCK—!”

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!”

“DON’T JUST STAND AROUND AND WAIT TO FIND OUT! GET YOUR BIG GERUDO ASS IN GEAR AND RUN!”

The two men just narrowly escaped the three moving statues that had been after them before all but throwing themselves through the large doorway. Both let out a sigh of relief before a sudden rumbling jolted them from their false sense of security. They turned to see a large ball roll past the hall they were in from the direction they needed to go. Ganon whined and laid down on the cold temple floor, covering his face with his hands.

“We’re going to die here!” Ganon looked over at Vaati, eyes wide with terror, “I’m going to die a failure and a traitor to my people!”

“Calm down we’re not going to die,” Vaati huffed, looking back over at the barrage of balls, “I just need to find the room causing all of this shit and fuck with it so I can get my magic back and send our asses as far from this goddess forsaken place as possible.” 

“What if this is a trap set by the goddesses to kill me?!” Ganon shot up, grabbing Vaati, “What if I really _was_ meant to die in the Pyramid and—and I didn’t but the fates caught up with me and resolved to kill me here as retribution for cheating death earlier?!”

Vaati just stared at the panicked Triforce holder, blinking as his brain tried to process the stream of consciousness that he was just subject to from Ganon, “Okay, so there’s a lot to unpack there, least of which exactly how paranoid you sound right now—and that’s coming from me!”

“But—!”

“Oh no, I’m not finished,” Vaati slowly extricated himself from Ganon’s death grip, “And I’m not about to let you run down the list of all of the impossible things that _totally_ are trying to kill you right now, so let me just lay out our current predicament, yeah?”

“Okay but—!”

“ **Ganondorf look at me** ,” Vaati put his hands on both sides of the man’s face, guiding it so that he _had_ to look at the mage, “This isn’t how the goddesses would try to kill anyone, rather this looks like we wandered into some weird temple set here to help the hero instead; I’m older than you—trust me I know what I’m talking about; and to top it all off unlike wherever you were before, you’re no longer wandering a dangerous area alone and I’ll be fucked before I let you die, I technically owe you a life debt for as long as I’m free; got it?!”

“Got it—”

“Take a deep breath,”

“Taking a deep breath,” Ganon closed his eyes and sucked in as much air as his lungs would allow, letting the air out just before it started to grow uncomfortable, “Yeah, yeah okay, I think I feel better, thanks.”

“Hah, not even a problem,” Vaati coughed and play punched Ganon’s shoulder, trying to play it cool, “Your past life might’ve dealt with some of this, but this current you is still a bit new to the whole “mortal peril” thing.”

“Yeah, although this seems like overkill,” Ganon let out a small laugh, “I mean how is anyone supposed to make it through that???”

Vaati studied the balls rolling past them for a moment, watching the pattern before letting out a small laugh himself, “It seems as though there’s a method to this madness, there are two different ball paths for the smaller balls and even the largest one leaves just enough room on either end to narrowly miss a person, I can get a bit closer to see if my hunch is correct but that fact alone leads me to believe there may be spots of reprieve we can duck into to avoid the larger ball when it rolls down.”

“You think so?” Ganon’s eyes lit with hope for their current predicament.

“Only one way to find out.”

Shadow Link stared out at the water of the coast as some of his clones jumped in, taking in the glistening waves before a shinier sight caught his attention. He slowly approached the large red triangular gem, curiously poking it right before a small green man snatched it from his hands.

“Not so fast kid!” the man shrieked, “This force gem is mine! Tingle, Tingle, Kooloo-Limpah!”

Shadow blinked and rubbed away the sparkles that Tingle had less than graciously thrown in his face, “Nuh uh, I found it first!”

“Yeah, well, I grabbed it first!” Tingle stuck his tongue out at the young shadow before unceremoniously shoving the force gem into his pocket, “Welcome to the real world, if you don’t grab something first it ain’t yours. Now move along, Tingle has valuable work to do!”

Shadow Link took a second, taking in the stranger’s words, before picking Tingle up, carrying him over to the shore as the man screamed and struggled.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!”

“Uh, I grabbed you, duh,” Shadow laughed, “You said if I grab something then it’s mine!”

“THAT DOESN’T INCLUDE PEOPLE ARE YOU INSANE?!”

“What? No? I’m Shadow Link,” Shadow smiled, “But Vaati calls me Shadow.”

At the mention of the wind mage Tingle’s blood ran cold and he regarded this strange child with newfound fear in his heart, suddenly he began to regret his quest for force gems and he began to stutter, trying to think of some way out of this situation.

“V—V—Vaati?! Oh, how interesting!” Tingle began to sweat, “Well—Well young—young man—I think I have something your master Vaati might want!”

“Oh no, he’s just Vaati, he said so himself,” Shadow shrugged before stopping as his brain caught the second half of that sentence, “What might he want?”

“A map!” Tingle let out an uneven breath, “A map of all of Hyrule and if you let Tingle go now I will give it to you at a reduced rate!”

“A reduced rate!” Shadow leaned in, setting the green man down and clasping both hands in front of himself excitedly, “Thank you so much! How much is it going to cost now?!”

“For this only three thousand rupees instead of my normal deal!”

Shadow Link took a second, looking at his near barren wallet—containing all of three rupees—before looking out at some of the clones, motioning for them to get over here. They nodded as Tingle took only a single hesitant step back, bumping into a shovel wielding shadow, looking between him and the small group that had now grabbed a very large rock.

“Perhaps I can sell it to you for five hundred???”

“VAATI!”

Ganon screamed and dropped his dual scimitars as he saw his companion duck between the two large guardians he’d been fighting and dive over the edge of the pit, the two stone statues following and falling into the abyss. However, just before the shock could fade into horror he heard a familiar grunt and watched as Vaati pulled himself back up from the edge, panting as he dusted himself off.

“Sweet Hylia fuck this temple—!” Vaati could barely finish his sentence before Ganon was upon him, pinching both of his cheeks like an angry grandma.

“ARE YOU INSANE YOU COULD HAVE DIED!” Ganon screamed, channeling his fear into rage, “WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?!”

“Ow—Ow—Ow—Ow—Ow—!” Vaati tried swatting the large man’s hands away to no avail, “Jeez—Ow—I’m sorry! Fuck—Stop!”

Ganon released his hold and huffed, Vaati nursing his abused cheeks first before regarding his companion. Despite the angry veneer the man wore Vaati could start to see between the cracks in his armor, sighing and wondering what the fuck was coming over him as he said, “Look, I didn’t mean to scare you, I won’t pull a stunt like that again.”

“Hmph!” Ganon crossed his arms but couldn’t hide the fact that he had relaxed at the mage’s promise, “You’d better not, you still owe me that “life debt” you spoke of earlier.”

“Din’s fucking fire,” Vaati laughed, “And here I thought you didn’t catch that last part—SHIT!”

Vaati managed to shove Ganon out of the way of an incoming arrow just in time, ducking himself and instinctively grabbing one of the scimitars, expertly blocking the rest of the arrows before the knight on the other side of the pit let out a curse and ducked back into the room he’d come from, locking the door behind himself.

“What—” Ganon said breathlessly, “What was that? Where did you learn that?!”

_What **was** that?_ Vaati stared at the hand holding the sword, eyes wide and mind searching for answers but coming up blank, _I—This body reacted on its own, but that’s impossible—I made this form to—I was always a Demon, right?—When did I make this form anyways?—I actually don’t remember having it before now—Where—What—How—!_

“Vaati?” Ganon asked tentatively, snapping Vaati out of his thoughts.

“Huh—Oh, uh,” Vaati hesitated for a moment, “I actually don’t entirely remember, I probably picked in my earlier days when I was but a young demon trying to find my place in destroying the world. Probably learned it from wandering into random dungeons”

“Hah, I didn’t know that demons could become senile,” Ganon smiled, “Next thing I know you’re going to talk about how much harder everything was back in your day.”

“Y’see sonny, back in my day,” Vaati put on a fake old man voice, “We had to walk uphill both ways to lay siege to Hyrule Castle.”

Both men laughed, tension between them fading. As their laughter died down Ganon noticed something by the wall far behind Vaati and curiously walked over to it. It was a chest, strange though, as Ganon couldn’t recall it being there when they’d entered in. He looked over at Vaati and the mage shrugged. Ganon lightly kicked the chest, checking to see if it was by chance a trap. When nothing happened he opened it, eyes lighting up at the contents inside.

“Vaati look at this bow!” Ganon picked it and the quiver up, regarding the craftsmanship of what he was holding, “It’s impeccable! And these arrows!”

“Aside from getting shot in the eye I don’t really know much about archery,” Vaati snorted, however the four switches along the wall of the pit caught his attention, “Don’t suppose it’d be possible for one man to hit four targets at once, would it?”

“Four at once?” Ganon looked over at what Vaati was talking about, and for a second Vaati thought he would concede the impossibility of the task, however, “Please, I could do that blindfolded, watch and learn old man.”

To Vaati’s unending surprise, with expert aim and technique, Ganon let loose four arrows at the same time, each of them hitting their switch dead on and suddenly a path across opened for them and the door at the far side clicked, indicating that it’d become unlocked. Vaati stared up at him, eyes wide with awe, entirely flabbergasted. Ganon took note of this and smiled brightly, taking immense pride at leaving the wind demon speechless.

“Gerudo archery,” Ganon said haughtily, head held high and radiating confidence, “The best Hyrulean archer couldn’t begin to compare to even the worst Gerudo archer; I—being the best—could knock out any pathetic archery challenge these bastards throw at us without breaking a sweat.”

“Impressive,” Vaati nodded and let a chuckle escape his lips, “Remind me never to piss you off while in my true form. You’d probably be able to blind me before I could even hope to close my eye.”

Ganon let out a laugh and nudged Vaati’s shoulder before they recalled the task at hand, traversing the newly made path, nervous, but more at ease now that both of them had weapons that they could expertly wield. Their newfound calm was tested, however, when upon entering the next room as the door closed behind them and they were greeted by six statues, slowly waking from their slumber. Ganon readied his bow and Vaati his sword, nodding at each other before Ganon went for the three on the right at the same time, Vaati attacked the three on the left one after another. Relentlessly aiming for the eyes of these monsters proved fruitful, as they were able to cut through them in near record time. The door on the other side of the room opened and the two looked at it, panting before looking back at one another.

“We make a pretty good team,” Ganon said, “Y’know, when you decide not to go at it alone.”

“Yeah,” Vaati smiled, “I guess we do huh. Want to go kick the crap out of that knight guy we saw earlier, partner?”

Ganon nodded and the two of them rushed into the next room, stopping at the sight of the bombs splayed all around the room. Both caught sight of the two switches surrounded by bomb flowers and Vaati looked uneasily at Ganon, who let out the breath he was holding and readied his bow, aiming at the switches. Vaati closed his eyes and covered his ears as Ganon let the arrows loose, waiting for them to knock into the bombs upon hitting off the switch. He waited, and waited, and when the explosion didn’t come he looked up, catching sight of the arrows sticking clean out of the switches before looking up at Ganon.

“I had to hit them a bit harder,” Ganon said, shaking his hand out, “But I told you, nothing I can’t knock out.”

“Sweet Hylia no kidding, huh?” Vaati stared in amazement, trying to take in the sheer force needed to lodge the arrows into the switches. _Honestly, with the skill and promise he has what the actual fuck is he doing repeating the mistakes of both his past self as well as myself?!_

The wind demon was abruptly pulled from his thoughts as Ganon examined the wall of bombs directly in front of the door, looking to see if anything in the floor ahead would trigger their detonation. Vaati walked over and helped examine their path, looking over to Ganon to nod. Both carefully step over the bombs as they make their way forward, jolting as the door slammed shut behind them. Ahead on the floor below them, four statues rumbled, rising from their slumber and looking up, directly at the two men. Something was off about these statues, however, unlike the normal red color the past statues had donned, these statues were blue. They didn’t move, they just stood there, staring at them, the doors to either side closed.

“I don’t like this,” Ganon said, readying his bow, “I’m going to try to take them out from up here.”

“Wait,” Vaati halted him, “Stay here, keep the bow at the ready, I’ll go down and investigate, we don’t want to do anything reckless.”

Ganon nodded, lowering his bow but keeping it out as Vaati jumped down and approached the still statues. He noticed how part of the ground in front of the first-row statues and behind the back-row statues was lower than the rest and slightly discolored. Jumping on it he could feel the slight hollow sound of a switch below it.

“Hey!” Vaati looked up at where Ganon was, “I think I found what we need to do, these guys need to go where the depression in the ground is—like this one over here!”

“Oh!” Ganon sheathed his bow, “Phew—I’ll come help!”

As the Gerudo man jumped down they heard a click, as though a trap had activated, one set specifically for him. The statues eyes’ lolled back and water shot out from where they’d been, the closed doors surrounding the top of the room began to leak water and soon the room had been flooded up to their shins.

“FUCK!” Vaati screamed and began trying to use the wet ground as leverage against the friction of pushing the statue he’d been next to, getting it into its proper place as the water rose to his knees, “SHIT GRAB A STATUE AND PUSH!”

Ganon nodded, eyes wide in panic as he all but picked up one of the crying statues and placed it in the divot in the ground. Vaati tried to push the next statue into its nearest divot but the now waist high water was adding a layer of difficulty both in getting to it and in pushing it forward. As Ganon placed the third statue in its place they heard a large slam from above them, stomachs sinking as they saw the doors at the top open to allow all of the water in, flooding the room faster than they could manage and quickly submerging the last statue.

“FUCK—FUCK—I COULDN’T GET IT!” Vaati screamed and slammed his fists down in the water, looking over at Ganon, “GODESSES DAMMIT WHY AM I SO WEAK IN THIS FORM!”

Ganon looked up at the ceiling that was fast approaching, and then down at the last statue before turning back over to Vaati, “I don’t think I could push it on my own now, but we might be able to move it together!”

Vaati looked at him, watching the walls disappear below them as the water rose, and nodded, taking a deep breath as Ganon followed suit before they descended into the deep of the rising water. They headed in the direction of the statue, torchlights above slowly fading as the water began to splash against them, darkening the room. Just before the lights went out, they were able to get to the statue. Vaati tapped what he assumed was Ganon’s arm twice before swimming around, feeling the ground for the decline, once he’d found it he nudged Ganon in the direction opposite of it and both men started to push. Vaati could feel his lungs screaming out and Ganon felt the air escape his lips, lungs burning with the same virulence in protest to the lack of air. Just as they were almost finished Vaati accidentally tried to take in air on impulse, mind going into a panic at the newfound liquid intrusion. Ganon felt his partner’s panicked movements and with newfound determination thrust the statue into its spot, almost gasping as both men were abruptly pulled through the newly opened door with the rest of the water. Vaati doubles over, vomiting the water he took in, both men coughing furiously.

“Are you alright?” Ganon moved over to the coughing mage, patting his back cautiously.

“Yeah—Yeah I think I’m okay.” Vaati wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, sitting up, “Thanks, back there, sorry I wasn’t much help.”

“Are you kidding?!” Ganon shot up, “If you hadn’t noticed the switches in the ground we would’ve died!”

Blue Jewel glowing, eyes alight and form getting bigger and bigger, the knight speaks, “ **Yes, it’s a shame that you’ll both have to die here instead.** ”


	3. The Twinrova

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mom come pick me up, I'm scared.

“You’ll never get away with this!” Screamed the Blue Knight, “You fiends! You monsters! You—GRK—!”

“For the love of Nayru,” The rather beat looking mage groaned as he kicked their captive, “Shut the fuck up.”

“So, this is what screwed with your powers,” Ganon spoke, looking equally as beat while he examined the Blue Jewel, “Looks kind of like one of the engravings at the top of the pillar in the sanctuary—you sure this is one of the keys to your place?”

“Pretty sure,” Vaati kicked their prisoner again for good measure before moving over to Ganon, “It definitely matches one of the patterns on the door to the Tower of Winds—OW!”

Vaati quickly withdrew the hand he’d used to try to touch the gem as it shocked him, shaking his hand out and glaring at the offending object. _Okay what the fuck,_ the mage’s mind raced, _this **is MY key** , isn’t it?!_ Now that the knight couldn’t amplify the gem’s power, Vaati tried to use magic to reach out to the gem only for it to shock him with equal force to the magic he was using, causing him to scream and fall over, holding his rather burnt hand close to his chest.

“VAATI!” Ganon rushed over to his side, setting the gem down away from the mage, “Fuck—here—let me help.”

Ganon was careful when taking hold of the burnt hand, doing his best to recall the teachings of his mothers as a faint red glow began to shine from his palms, healing the injured hand close to where it’d been with only a few minor burns left. Vaati looked up at him, a question on the tip of his tongue before it was abruptly cut off by the sight of the bound knight making his way towards the discarded gem. Enraged, Vaati threw a ball of lightning at the foolish bastard as Ganon looked in the knight’s direction, quickly realizing what he was trying to do.

“Of course, a Hyrulean wouldn’t adhere to any sense of decorum,” Ganon huffed, quickly pocketing the Blue Gem, “Honestly, why did the Goddesses gift these cretins such lively lands?”

“Oh yeah, that reminds me,” Vaati got up, slowly healing the rest of the damage to his hand, “You didn’t tell me that you knew magic.”

“Uh—yeah I did?” Ganon looked over at his accomplice, dumbfounded, “I introduced myself as the _Dark Warlock Ganondorf_ , don’t you remember?”

“Oh—Uh—Hahah, it’s actually kind of funny,” Vaati nervously rubbed the back of his neck with his good hand, shrugging his shoulders up a bit, “So, I actually didn’t understand the first half of what you said to me, I—uh—had to use magic to help me translate what you were saying.”

“You—What?” Ganon blinked, staring at the mage like he’d just grown a second head, “But I’ve been speaking Hylian this whole time!”

“Yeah, _your_ Hylian,” Vaati hands gestured over himself, “I’m older than Dodongo Balls, my native Hylian is your _ancient_ Hylian.”

“Holy fucking Hylia,” Ganon all but picked Vaati up, grabbing his shoulders, “You actually _know_ ancient Hylian—Wait a fucking minute of course you would!”

Ganon released the shocked mage and facepalmed himself, “No shit, how did I overlook something so obvious?!”

“Do—” Vaati blinked, “You—by chance—wouldn’t happen to know ancient Hylian, right?”

“A bit,” Ganon gave him a guilty smile, “My mothers speak and read it fluently—I’m actually starting to think they’re older than they claim, you can only turn “398” so many times.”

“Wait what?” Both Vaati and the knight said in surprised unison before Vaati kicked the blue clad man again, “Seriously, stay put you fucking bastard.”

“My mothers are twin sisters,” Ganon laughed, “Koume and Kotake, they took me in as a baby and raised me in the ruins of the Sand Temple out in the Desert of Doubt. It’s really difficult to get to even if you know the path, the desert has a habit of swallowing those who dare stray into it.”

“Am I safe to assume that they’re also magic users?” Vaati asked, mind still trying to process the new information that’d been presented to him, “I mean, they sound like they must be powerful to turn “398” over and over again.”

“Oh, they’re the ones who taught me magic!” Ganon smiled proudly, “But they don’t seem very interested in power, they taught me what I’d need to survive but they put more emphasis on restorative magic than on offensive magic. They’re very sweet.”

Vaati just stared, the family he was describing—the way that he talked about his moms—the caring, curious, and concerned man he was underneath the bravado—something about all of this caused Vaati’s gut to twist uncomfortably. _Evil_ , Vaati’s eyes moved over the larger man as he spoke vibrantly about his moms and his life with them, seemingly unguarded as he lost himself in memories of home, _Naïve—maybe, a tad cocky at times—sure, but evil—no, perhaps just paving the wrong path with the best intentions._

“—And they always made sure not to yell much around me,” Ganon laughed to himself, “So most of their fighting ended up being a competition of who could win my approval.”

“Hah, it sounds like they’re pretty good mothers—” Vaati paused for a moment, the cogs in his brain turning, “They—wouldn’t happen to be able to help us with our current predicament—would they?”

Ganon’s face lit up as he spun the wind sorcerer around, laughing as though they’d just made some miraculous breakthrough, “You’re a genius! That’s a wonderful idea! I’ll have to call them first, but I haven’t seen them since I left for the pyramid!”

“Call?” Vaati looked perplexed, there were communication magics in his time, but the slang term _call_ had never been introduced to the mage. Even more perplexing, Ganon hadn’t prepared to use a spell, instead he pulled out a red crystal charm from around his neck that looked similar to the blue charm he’d given Shadow Link and began to speak into it.

“Vabame? Vabake?” Ganon started, “Sav’otta—Sav’aaq—Sav’saaba? I actually don’t know what time it is exactly—”

“Sav’aaq vovhe!” Kotake answered back, “How are you doing? Are you eating well in Hyrule? And don’t give me the “I’m busy waging war” excuse vovhe, I will come down there!”

Ganon flushed with embarrassment and both Vaati and the Knight looked over at each other in utter confusion before turning back over to the Gerudo man. Ganon gave Vaati the “one minute” gesture and moved over to the corner of the room, quietly resuming his conversation.

“Vabake I promise you I’m eating—”

“Is he keeping warm?! Kotake ask him if he’s keeping warm!” Koume shouted in the background, “Hyrule can get pretty cold and he said he was going to release the wind voe!”

“Vabame I’ve been keeping warm, Hyrule Castle is well equipped with fireplaces—”

“He says he’s been keeping warm you old crone!” Kotake shouted away from the stone, clearly under the impression that Ganon couldn’t hear them.

“Vabake—”

“ _Crone?!_ ” Koume gasped, “Who are you calling a crone you walking fossil?!”

“Vabame—”

“How dare you talk to me—your older sister—so heartlessly!” Kotake cried

“ _SA’OTEN VABAROVA YOU DIDN’T MUTE THE LINE!_ ” Ganon’s outburst not only alerted his moms, but also his companion and their captive. Ganon coughed awkwardly before continuing, “Sorry, I was just calling to see if Vaati and I can come visit you at the Sand Temple—”

“YES! ABSOLUTELY VOVHE!”

“SA’OTEN OF COURSE VOVHE!”

“ANY TIME! HERE WHERE ARE YOU?!”

“WE CAN TELEPORT YOU RIGHT OVER HERE VOVHE!"

“JUST SAY THE WORD!”

“Oh, well,” Ganon rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “Well we need to pick up Shadow Link first, I think he went towards the coast so he might be over there, but I’ll let you know.”

“OKAY BE SAFE VOVHE!” Koume shouted.

“WE LOVE YOU VOVHE!” Kotake joined

“Love you both too,” Ganon smiled, “Sav’orq, Vabarova.”

Ganon walked back over to the confused men in the center of the room, pocketing the stone charm and hoisting the captive over his shoulders, “Moms’ say they’re going to teleport us over to them once we grab Shadow—oh wait there’s twelve of them.”

“We don’t need to take every Shadow,” Vaati chuckled, preparing to cast a spell to warp them back to the entrance of the temple, “Just one, they’re all still just one Shadow Link after all.”

“Oh—uh—,” Ganon let out an awkward cough, “Right—I knew that.”

Neither man was prepared for the scene they’d stumbled upon, the echoes of laughter being overpowered by the sound of large explosions that shook the earth beneath their feet, causing Vaati and Ganon to grab hold of one another as not to fall. Both men stared at each other, wide-eyed and more than a little bit scared of what new nightmare they’d just dropped into. They heard a bout of cheering and then more rapturous laughter that grew closer along with the rustling of foliage. Suddenly—with the only warning being the sudden silence before the storm—there was a deafening explosion—large enough to create a giant gust of wind, ground shaking violently, their combined forces knocking both men onto the ground on top of one another. Vaati—thankfully having landed on Ganon—was the first to react, jumping up and screaming, “OI! WHAT’S WITH ALL THE BOMBS!”

Before he could get another word out, Vaati—and to the same extent Ganon, as Vaati had been knocked back over and into him—had been dogpiled by the group of Shadow Links. Ganon let out a grunt from the force of it, completely trapped by the bodies on top of him, and looked down at the purple mage who was currently facedown on his chest underneath the pile of Shadow Links, entirely defeated, “Haha, you doing okay there old man?”

Without lifting his head, Vaati struggled a bit before freeing one arm from the pile and gave Ganon a thumbs up, wheezing under the weight of the kids. It was then that one of the Shadow Links realized that they were crushing Vaati and called out to the others, “GUYS WE’RE CRUSHING THEM GET UP!”

“No—no, you kids are fine,” Vaati strained, gasping a bit for air as he rolled off of Ganon, “I’m just super old.”

“Whoa—how old are you?!”

“I bet Vaati’s a million years old!”

“Nuh uh, I bet he’s two million years old!”

“You guys are stupid, he’s obviously a billion years old, he’s super wise and junk.”

“Please, a “billion” isn’t even a real number!”

“Is too dumbass!”

“Oooooo you said a bad word!”

“Vaati says bad words all the time!”

“Yeah but Vaati’s super old! He’s allowed to!”

“Oh my goddesses, if Vaati’s a million how old is Ganon?!”

“He has to be the same age as Vaati!”

“No way, he’s obviously older!”

“Uh, how?!”

“He looks older!”

“Nuh uh, Vaati was trapped in a sword for a zillion years.”

“Oh, a billion isn’t a real number but a zillion is?!”

“Uh, obvs, it goes million, zillion, gazillion,”

“HOW ARE YOU AND I THE SAME PERSON?”

“Uh, we’re both stupid, duh.”

“Hey! That’s mean!”

“So what?”

“So? Take it back!”

“Mmmm, how ‘bout no?”

“Hey, should we do something?” Ganon nudged Vaati, “I’m not quite sure how to handle this myself, last time I wagged my finger at Shadow Link he burst into tears.”

“Uh—shit—sure,” Vaati nodded and got up, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead, _Sure, trust the alcoholic demon with child psychology, oh this is going to be just fucking perfect_.

Vaati walked over to the now bickering crowd of Shadows and sat down right in the middle of all of them, the group growing silent and watching him curiously, wondering what he was doing or if they were in trouble. Vaati looked up at them and smiled, patting the ground to signal to them to sit. They complied, now even more worried that they might be in trouble.

“Alright kiddos, let ol’ Vaati tell you a story, yeah?” The shadows looked at each other and nodded, Vaati on the other hand was about to have a heart attack, _There’s no way I’m going to be able to make up some bullshit story on the spot they’re going to find out I’m lying oh fuck, oh shit, ohfuckohshitohfuckohshit—_ “Once upon a time, before I was a demon, I was the apprentice of this renowned sorcerer, and y’know, he was pretty harsh on me. I could never learn anything fast enough, I was never smart enough, I couldn’t do anything right, I was always in trouble for something, the list goes on. After a while, I didn’t need him to be there to berate me, I could berate myself _just_ fine. I shudder to think how much harder I would’ve been on myself had I been able to make clones then. But, it wasn’t good for me, even if there’s now more of you, you’re all still Shadow Link, you have to learn to be nicer to yourself, or else you’ll end up making my mistakes, and you’re a pretty special kid so I’d hate to see you forget it. Besides, if you don’t ever let yourself make mistakes how’re you going to learn?”

One of the Shadow Links gets up and walks over to the other, sitting back down and hugging his clone. The rest soon follow suit and pull Vaati and Ganon into the cuddle pile. During this, however, one breaks off from the rest and dashes over into a bush, landing directly on the escaping knight and pulling out his sword, “Oh no, I don’t know why Vaats and Gan brought you here but you’re not going anywhere without their say-so!”

“Huh,” Vaati got up and walked over to where Shadow and the Blue Knight were, ruffling Shadow’s hair, “Good work kid, I entirely forgot about this guy—ohhhhh wait that’s right.”

“Oh yeah,” Ganon chuckled, “Kids, we’re going to my moms’ place to figure out how to handle the prisoner, who wants to come with us?”

“ME!”

“MEMEME!”

“I DO ME!”

“PICK ME PLEASE!”

Both Ganon and Vaati had realized—far too late—the grave mistake they’d just made as every Shadow Link voiced their desire to come with them. The two men looked at one another, trying to figure out what the actual hell they were going to do. Ganon is the first to speak, putting his arm around Vaati’s shoulder, “Of course! Let me just talk to Vaati really quick about some adult things and we’ll all be on our way. Oh! And watch the prisoner for us if you would.”

“I think that is the politest I’ve heard you ask anything of him,” Vaati smirked, “So, what’s up?”

“Just one second,” Ganon pulled out the red stone, “Vabarova, we have a little problem.”

“Problem? Vovhe are you okay—” Kotake started before Koume cut in, “ARE YOU SAFE?! DO YOU NEED US TO COME DOWN THERE? IF ANYONE IS HURTING YOU I SWEAR ON THE SAND GODDESS—”

“No! —No, Vabame, we’re fine, it’s just—” Ganon rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, so we cloned Shadow Link a lot before we called the first time, and now all of them want to come with us to visit you.”

“Oh vovhe,” Koume chuckled, “That’s not a problem at all, how many are there?”

“Sixteen.”

“Oh,” Koume said in a flat voice, “Vovhe that actually might be a problem.”

“Yeeeeah,” Ganon coughed, “How many people did you say you and Vabake could transport?”

“I think it’s eight each,” Kotake said, “I think we might be able to fit one more each in if we combined our powers, but you said you had a prisoner right? That’d be a total of nineteen. I don’t think we could get all of you vovhe.”

“Hmmm, Gan,” Vaati nudged his forearm with the back of his hand, “You grew up there right?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know the way there through the desert?” Vaati looked up at him, “Y’know, instead of teleporting?”

“I mean, I do,” Ganon sighed, “Shit, I hate having to traverse that fucking desert alone.”

“Oh no, I’m going with you,” Vaati turned over to the stone, talking into it loudly like an old man with any new piece of technology, “Hey, would you two be okay watching over the Shadows and the prisoner for a bit so Gan and I have time to move through the desert?”

“Oh!” Koume and Kotake both exclaimed in surprise, “I—yes of course! Will you be okay in the desert? You Hylian voe tend not to be as accustomed to the heat and dust.”

“Hah, please,” Vaati chuckled, “With Gan at my side I can handle anything, I’m more worried about your end, the kids can be a bit of a handful and they have a propensity for—”

Mid-sentence there’s and explosion from where the Shadows are. Vaati sighs but before he can explain that they really are sweet kids he hears laughter from the witches on the other line.

“Oh please,” They laughed, “That’s _nothing_ , if anything they’re going to love the desert, the sand makes a beautiful plume when it explodes.”

“Oh?” Vaati cocked an eyebrow, “Well then you won’t mind teleporting them over to you right now then?”

“We’d _love to_.”


	4. A Desert of Doubts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vaati meets the Twinrova

“Stupid fucking wind demon,” Ganon mumbled into his scarf, making sure the nose and mouth of the unconscious man he was carrying bridal style was also still covered as he trudged forth through the dust storm, following the short markers in the ground. His golden eyes scanned the horizons for the paths forward, careful never to stand in one area for too long lest he become part of the desert himself. Ganon shuddered a bit at that thought, _Sure would’ve been nice to have this magic asshole awake to clear some of the dust away_. He let out an irritated sigh, trudging forward and thanking the Sand Goddess that he could see the two small wooden posts up ahead, indicating he was near the plaque—and shelter from the storm. He walked over to the area where he recalled there being a hidden door in the sand, tapping it with his foot and smiling when he heard the hollow sound of wood in response. He carefully kicks it open and wanders down inside, watching his head around the support beams keeping the area from being buried under sand, setting Vaati down inside before moving back to close the door.

Muttering a small incantation, Ganon summoned a small ball of floating light, gold eyes now tracing over the lightly illuminated face of the man he’d personally hauled through this treacherous wasteland. He’d been too caught up in his anger the last time the man had been out cold to focus on his features in this form and state, but now that he wasn’t preoccupied in waking the mage up he could start to take in the dark circles under the man’s eyes, the way his lips parted just a bit as he took in deep breaths, the way the strands of lavender hair that obscured part of his face shined in the light, how despite being completely incapacitated he still managed to _look_ tense—as though the man hadn’t relaxed a day in his life. Ganon chuckled to himself, _the irony_. He shook his head and picked the wind demon back up, this time carrying him over his shoulder as he’d be descending the nearby ladder into a larger basement area. He lit the two torches in the center of the room before laying out his bedroll and setting the mage on top of it. He pulled out a bottle from his pack and looked between the red liquid and the mage, trying to figure out how he’d administer the potion to an unconscious man.

“You fucking dumbass,” Ganon sighed as he sat down next to the unconscious mage, “You should’ve told me you were at your limit. You don’t have to act tough around me, you know? I’m not going to think differently of you for having limits yourself, I’d rather you not push yourself past breaking.” 

Ganon huffed, eyes once again lingering on the sorcerer’s face, and without thinking about it he gently brushed aside the hair that had been obscuring half of his face. His hand lingered for a moment as he studied the now fully visible face of his companion, curiously tracing the scar that covered his usually hidden eye. It was only then that Ganon realized exactly what he was doing, and in a moment of panic slapped the purple man hard across the face.

“WHAT—OW—WHO—WHERE?!” Vaati jolted up and his head immediately collided with Ganon’s, both men yelping at the impact and falling back, holding their head and groaning in pain in unison.

“Thank the Sand Goddess, you finally woke up, you—” Ganon took a sip of the red potion before handing it to the confused and irritated man in front of him, “You really had me worried there. What happened?”

Vaati downed the red potion, rubbing his eyes and looking around before looking back at Ganon curiously, “I don’t know, one minute we’ve landed in the desert and then the next thing I know I’m being smacked awake. Ow, by the way.”

“Hah, sorry about that, but you weren’t waking up,” Ganon lied, rubbing the back of his head, “I was starting to worry that you’d caught valley fever, or worse—do you know what made you pass out?”

“No clue—” the same moment those words left the mage’s mouth, his stomach let out a large rumble and the purple man flushed with embarrassment. Ganon’s eyes narrowed at the demon and he reached around in his pack, pulling out a sandwich.

“When was the last time you ate something?” Ganon’s eyes bore through the purple man, who had started to flush deeper, eyes darting around the room.

“I—uh— _need_ to eat?”

“ **YOU HAVEN’T EATEN ANYTHING?!** ” Ganon was on the mage in an instant, free hand gripping the man’s jaw, “ ** _HOW?! HOW DID YOU NOT KNOW YOU NEEDED TO EAT?!_** ”

Vaati gave him a sheepish smile and shrugged, letting out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding the moment Ganon released his face. His relief was soon replaced by confusion as he felt something press against his lips. He looked between the now unwrapped sandwich being held at his face and Ganon, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

“If I have to teach you how to eat I swear to Din—” Ganon muttered under his breath before grabbing one of Vaati’s hands with his free one and guiding it up to the sandwich, “Here, it might be a bit spicy but it should hold you over until we get to my Vabas’ temple.”

Vaati held the sandwich and took a bite, eyes lighting up at the taste. Without a second thought he began eating it like a starved animal, only taking heed of Ganon’s words after he’d eaten the entire sandwich and the compounded spice of the dish hit him almost all at once. Just as he’d started coughing, Ganon handed him a glass of milk, chuckling, “I told you it was spicy, I’ll try to keep something on hand for you to eat next time.”

“You say that like I’m incapable of caring for myself,” Vaati cocked his brow and smirked, before both he and the Gerudo man started laughing, “Fair enough, you win this round.”

“Yes!” Ganon snickered, “Ganondorf: One; Vaati: Zero!”

“Oi—oi, let’s be fair here,” Vaati smirked, “You carried my unconcious body across the desert and gave me your only sandwich, Gan: One; Vaati: Negative One.”

“Oh, is that how we’re playing it?” Ganon cocked his head back and crossed his arms haughtily, “I also slapped you back to consciousness and gave you one of my red potions, so it’d be more like Ganondorf: Four; Vaati: Zero. I’m not about to let you get away with skimping me on points by awarding yourself negative points.”

“Damn.” Vaati snapped his fingers in feigned ruefulness, “But does slapping me _really_ count as a point in your favor?”

“A—Wha—It—You—” Ganon stuttered and his face flushed, his embarrassment causing the mage to burst out laughing as Ganon’s expression changed from flustered to irritated, “Fine, the score is three to zero, happy?”

“Very.” Vaati smiled, “Now, where are we exactly?”

“Oh!” Ganon started to put away the empty bottles, “This is a rest area just before the temple, there’s a poe up above that’ll guide us through the storm the rest of the way since there’re no markers.”

“I could just clear the storm away instead,” Vaati shrugged, “Save us some time.”

“I’m not going to lie,” Ganon chuckled, “The thought of you making this trip easier did cross my mind while I was carrying you through the desert.”

“Thanks, by the way, for doing that.”

“I was the one who insisted we go through the desert on foot,” Ganon nudged Vaati off the bedroll and started to roll it back up, “It was least I could do.”

“If you hadn’t I might’ve passed out midair,” Vaati nervously rubbed the back of his head, “I actually wasn’t feeling all that well while flying over here.”

“You can tell me when you’re unwell,” Ganon faced the mage, moving closer to him, “You’re already far more powerful than I imagined, you don’t have to pretend to be invincible around me, we’re friends by now, aren’t we?”

Vaati met his gaze, red eyes widening in the face of the hopeful—yet hesitant—golden ones. His racing mind came to a halt all at once and his eyes softened as he smiled, “Yeah, we are.”

Both men emerged from the underground shelter and looked out at the darkening dusty desert ahead of them. Before Vaati could utter a word, they were greeted by the glow of a floating lantern and a voice, “Welcome! I can provide safe passage through the desert; you’ll just have to keep up—”

“Thank you, but there’s no need,” Vaati said and with a wave of his hand the dust storm settled and the path to the temple was made clear. The poe materialized and gaped at the cleared path, then at the wind demon in front of him, glowing eyes wide. The poe almost didn’t catch that the two men had started moving forward without them.

“Well—” They hurried over to them, “I can alert you to traps set in the desert!”

“Oh, no that’s okay,” Ganon chuckled, “I know these sands pretty well, I can tell when something is out of place.”

“I—I have a lantern!” They motioned to the vibrant sunset, “It’ll be dark soon!”

“Oh, no—” Before Vaati could finish Ganon lightly nudged his shoulder before leaning in to whisper to him, after which the mage seemed to change his tune, “Actually, a lantern would be lovely.”

“Really?!” The poe all but lit up, “I mean—of course! Please, follow me.”

“Wait—So you’re telling me,” Shadow drank some of his water, “That Gan isn’t, like, a zillion years old?”

“That’s right vovhe!” Kotake smirked, “He’s still an adult, that much is unfortunately true, but he’s young—”

“Vaati on the other hand—” Koume cut in as she stirred the large pot, “Is older than even Kotake over there.”

“We’re TWINS!”

“Hmmmm,” Koume tapped her chin and smirked, “I don’t know, vovhes’, do you think Kotake looks older? If you do you’ll get a second helping of dessert after supper!”

All the Shadows around the large table looked at one another before roughly half of the table erupted in confirmation of Koume’s words, the other half scooting closer to Kotake. Kotake just huffed, pointing her nose up in the air and crossing her arms, “Well then, the half who disagreed will just get to stay up an hour later tonight.”

At that the warring half of the table fell silent, all eight shades looking down sadly before Kotake let out a heartly laugh, “Aw, I’m just kiddin’ ya, I wouldn’t be as heartless as to deny you vovhes an extra hour of playtime.”

“And I,” Koume smirked, “Wouldn’t say no to letting you get an extra helping of dessert!”

“Besides!”

“You’re all so well-behaved!”

“Our vovhe is raising such a sweet boy!”

“I’m so proud!”

“Uh—Vabarova, right?” The Shadow who spoke let out a relived sigh as the two witches nodded and smiled, “It—well, it was actually Vaati who told us to be on our best behavior, Gan just said that you’d absolutely love us.”

“Vaati?”

“The wind voe?”

“Vovhe,” Kotake moved over to that Shadow, “We appreciate that you’re being respectful, but you don’t _have_ to behave. What exactly did Vaati say to you?”

“Oh!” Shadow perked up, “He said that it’d be a bit before he and Gan got here, and since you both sounded a bit old over the stone that we should try not to overwhelm you too much since there’s a lot of us, so we should do what you say unless you tell us to do something that makes us uncomfortable!”

“What?!”

“He—He called us—”

“ _HE_ CALLED _US_ OLD!”

“But—” Shadow was about to relay to them that they do—in fact—look old, before another Shadow stopped him, signaling to him to read the room on this one. Shadow nodded back to himself and looked over at both Vabas’ as they congregated in the kitchen.

“Koume! We have to do something!”

“Yes, but what!? Gan was already set on allying with that wind cretin!”

“True, but perhaps we can psyche him out!”

“Yes—yes! See if his true loyalties lie with Ganon!”

“And if they aren’t—”

“Which, if history is correct, they can’t be—”

“Then we strike!”

“He made a grievous error in calling us old!”

“ _Him_ of all people!”

“He’s even older!”

“How dare he!”

“That bat shaped bitch!”

“Excuse me, Koume, Kotake,” A wallmaster appeared behind them, “Both Ganon and “the bat shaped bitch” have just arrived through the Left Hand entrance.”

“Perfect timing!” Kotake chuckled.

“Let’s go greet our newest guest!” Koume smirked.

Just as Vaati was about to make mention that this place was much different from the other temple, the twin Gerudo witches appeared directly in front of him almost out of nowhere, causing him to let out an embarrassing yelp and fall backwards onto his ass. Both women snickered to themselves before noticing their son’s bored stare.

“Vabarova—” Ganon moved over to help Vaati up, “I know he’s voe, but please don’t scare my friend like that.”

“Sorry vovhe!”

“Old habits!”

“So,” Vaati chuckled a bit himself, “You’re Gan’s moms? Koume and Kotake, correct?”

“Yes,”

“Hey why did you say Koume’s name first?!”

“My apologies,” Vaati chuckled and extended his hand to the two of them, “I’m Vaati, it’s nice to meet you both.”

The twins looked at one another, seemingly plotting something between them mentally, before giggling and joining their hands together, muttering something the confused mage could almost make out before in a small gust of smoke they emerged as one eight-foot-four tall woman. Before Vaati could even begin to say anything they embraced him, one side hot like sun-soaked sand, the other cold like the night’s gale in the desert. Vaati, starting to suspect what was going on, did his best to suppress a pained shudder and return the hug.

“Oh,” Vaati kept his voice steady, “Thank you! I wasn’t expecting this.”

“Vabarova,” Ganon cut in, a bored stare on his face, “Your hair.”

“What?” The twin combination looked up and noticed the dead giveaway that was their hair, one side glowing with frost and the other glowing with fire, “Oops! Our mistake vovhe!”

Ganon cocked an eyebrow as their hair returned to normal as they released the mage before turning around to guide them through the temple. He looked over to his companion, catching his brief sight of relief, and shifted closer to him before leaning over a bit to whisper, “Sorry about that.”

“Sorry about what?” Vaati tried but failed to suppress some of the hesitation in his whispering voice, “I’m f—”

Ganon gave him a look that bore through him and the mage could almost swear that the golden eyed man had taken up mind-reading. His mind wandered back to their conversation in the desert and he let out a light chuckle, putting his hands up in surrender, “Fine, you caught me, I feel like I’ve just been in some horrid ice chest-oven combo.”

“Yeah,” Ganon nervously rubbed the back of his neck, “They’re pretty protective of me and they’re of the tradition that doesn’t trust voe.”

“What does voe mean?” Vaati looked up at him curiously, “I assume “outsider” but I’m not entirely sure.”

“Hah, sort of,” Ganon chuckled, “It more so means “man”, you know how the Gerudo tribes are all women, yeah?”

“I uh, actually didn’t,” Vaati avoided Ganon’s gaze, “I can only recall that somewhere I’d heard of them, but I’m not entirely sure where—wait but what about you?”

“Oh,” Ganon rubbed his arm, “Well, every now and then one man is born among the Gerudo and he’s supposed to be the guardian the desert and it’s people—”

Vaati paused, the weight of Ganon’s words hanging over him as some of the pieces started to fall into place. _How long have they had to live in this arid deathtrap?_ It was along this line of thought that he recalled something, a memory almost lost to time, someone telling him of a fire in the desert being a land dispute. At the time, he supposed, it hadn’t been any of his concern, but now—

“Hey,” Vaati felt the words leave his lips before he could stop them as he reached over and took hold of Ganon’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze, “I’m here with you, we’ll fix this.”

It took Vaati by surprise when the taller man pulled him into a hug, the twin combination ahead of them stopped and turned in their direction, shooting the mage a confused look. He’d be more worried about their reaction had his mind not been preoccupied by the man currently holding him. He let himself relax and wrapped his arms around Ganon, chuckling a little as his fingers found his long red hair.

“For a man who just braved a dust storm,” Vaati played with the strands lightly, “Your hair has remained surprisingly soft.”

“Hah,” Ganon laughed, “I wish I could say the same for yours, it almost looks like it’s trying to consume the tie I assume you also stole from Hyrule Castle.”

“Perhaps it is,” Vaati smirked, “Be careful, it might try to eat you next.”

Both men started to laugh, however there was a distinct click and flash that’d caught their attention. There, they saw the twins holding up a brown box with a glass lens sticking out of the center of it. Vaati looked perplexed by the device but Ganon’s face flushed as he recognized exactly what had just happened.

“Aw, vovhe,” They said, looking at the picture, “You looked so sweet! I just had to get a picture of the moment!”

“Vabarova!”

“Uh—” Vaati interjected, “What’s that?”

“Oh right,” The twins smirked, “You’re _old_ —well my dear, this is a pictograph box! It allows you to take a picture of something! We’ve modified this one to produce the image on a small square of enchanted parchment! Here, have a look”

Upon showing the mage the picture that they’d just taken, they began to cackle as his face flushed with embarrassment at the image before him. His mind raced for something to say or a way to purge the image from the earth without offending the twins, but it was stuck in both embarrassment at the situation and awe of the technological advances that’d been made in his absence. Just as he was starting to focus his thoughts, the twins split from the form they’d shared and opened the door in front of them, Kotake taking the picture from Vaati’s hands without warning.

“Vovhes!” Koume screeched, “Come look at this picture me and Kotake got of Gan and Vaati!”

“They’re here?!”

“Oh my goddesses, let me see the picture!”

“Wait so they’re not mad at Vaati—OOF!”

“Dude, keep it down, get a clue!”

“YOU MADE IT!”

Both men were instantly swarmed by Shadow Links, Ganon was able to handle the force of the oncoming children and managed to stay standing as they clung to him but Vaati was not as fortunate. The group tackled him and quickly sent him to the ground as both Koume and Kotake started to laugh. The one that had clung to Vaati’s chest looked up at him with big red eyes.

“We were on out best behavior!” He smiled, “Vabarova said so!”

“Yes,” Kotake smiled, “They’re sweet kids.”

“Hah,” Vaati beamed and ruffled the hair of each Shadow holding him to the ground, “Of course they are! Good job kids, I’ll have to do something special for you as a reward!”

The Shadows lit up and looked at each other, giggling and bounding with joy. The laughter in the room seemed contagious and both Ganon and Vaati ended up chuckling themselves, looking at one another only to laugh harder, as if there’d been some sort of joke between them that only they could make sense of in this moment. Amongst the ruckus, both Koume and Kotake caught a glimpse of the look the two men had shared, turning to each other in surprise.

_Perhaps_ , Koume thought.

_His loyalties_ , Kotake continued.

_Lay differently, this time_.


	5. Recollection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vaati remembers something.

“Y’know, I actually didn’t expect to need the goggles or the scarf.”

“And I didn’t expect you to make the bomb that big,” Ganon snorted at the mage who was currently caked head to toe in sand, “I don’t think we’re letting him run around with one of those.”

“Aw,” Vaati whined, “You saw the look on his face though!”

“I know,” Ganon sighed, “But if you hadn’t contained the blast and if they hadn’t been ushered inside, they could’ve gotten severely hurt.”

“Ah,” Vaati rubbed the back of his sand drenched head, “Yeah, that might be a problem.”

“No way to enchant the bombs out of this conundrum,” Ganon cocked an eyebrow at the mage, seemingly challenging him, “Right?”

“I—” Vaati lit up for a second before immediately falling silent, “No, that wouldn’t work. Hmm, what if—no.”

Ganon laughed as he pat his back, taking in the sight of the mage being both deep and thought but growing evermore frustrated, “Hey, you can think more on it after we get you cleaned up.”

Vaati nodded, both men moving towards the door when it opened, the Shadows pouring out and rushing over to the two men. Koume and Kotake stood by the entrance, chuckling as they heard the excited voices of their vovhes.

“THAT WAS AWESOME!”

“THE EXPLOSION SHOOK THE GROUND!”

“CAN WE HAVE THAT BOMB?!”

“PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!”

“VAATI PLEASE? WE PROMISE TO BE CAREFUL!”

“Oh—uh,” Vaati nervously chuckled, “I just have to make a few adjustments, but—”

The mage looked over at Ganon who looked just as apprehensive as he did, and then back at the sea of hopeful eyes staring at him, “Once I’m done with that, you bet you’re getting that new bomb!”

Upon saying that he was immediately tackled by the swarm of shadow kids, wheezing a bit as their combined weight started to crush him, but luckily Ganon was right there, picking up some of the Shadows and laughing, “Alright, now, now, don’t crush Vaati before he can finish your new bomb.”

“Aw, okay!”

“Sorry Vaati!”

A couple of the Shadows in Ganon’s arms started to yawn and rub their eyes, the sentiment seemingly contagious as the rest of the Shadows soon found themselves yawning. Koume and Kotake flew over to the group, smiling, “Alright, time for bed vovhes!”

A few of the Shadows tried to protest but heard light snoring from the Shadow that was still on Vaati’s chest and decided that sleep did sound a little nice. Vaati smiled, careful not to wake the sleeping shadow as he started to get up, carrying Shadow in his arms. Ganon smiled at the sight, a couple of the shades in his arms starting to fall asleep as well. They followed the twins inside and over to a sleeping area they’d prepared for the sixteen boys and got the Shadow Links into bed. Both men smiled as they tucked the kids in and left the room, coincidentally at the same time saying,

“Good night kids.”

“Sav’orr, Shadows.”

They took a moment to look at each other, surprised. Vaati let a light laugh escape his lips and at that Ganon smiled before they both turned to leave the room. They walked back over to the kitchen, where Koume and Kotake were talking to one another, drinks in hand. There were two more drinks set out on the table, seemingly for both Vaati and Ganon. Ganon chuckled and passed his drink over to Vaati as they sat down.

“Thanks, Vabarova, but,” Ganon chuckled, “I don’t think I want to drink tonight.”

“You might want to reconsider,” Kotake smiled nervously, “Alcohol is good for keeping your casting stamina up.”

Both men blinked in confusion and looked at each other, trying to think of what they could need to be casting that would take _that_ much out of them, before growing pale as they recalled the Knight problem they’d been having as well as the blue gem in one of Ganon’s pockets.

“Oh right,” Ganon took a sip of his drink, “The Hylian Knight.”

“Apologies,” Vaati gave a nervous smile before drinking his drink, “I’d gotten a bit distracted—holy Hylia this is good! What is this?!”

“It’s called the Noble Pursuit,” Koume chuckled, “I’d say I’d gotten good at it from centuries of making it, but the truth is I’ve been making the perfect drinks since I took up the hobby.”

“Do you think you could show me how to make it?” Vaati looked over at her, eyes full of hope, “This is much better than the vintage milk I’ve been using—”

“Hah, I think you’re getting distracted again,” Ganon chuckled as he put his hand on Vaati’s shoulder before turning back to his moms, “So aside from the Knight, we ran into another issue.”

Ganon pulled out the Blue Jewel, setting it down on the table in front of them, and for emphasis Vaati tried to reach out to touch the gem only to be shocked by it. The twins just stared at the gem for a moment, then at one another, before looking directly at the purple sorcerer across from them.

“Uh—” Kotake started.

“Vaati—” Koume cut in, “You—you do know what this is—”

“—Don’t you?” Both spoke in shocked unison.

“Um—” Vaati gulped nervously, “I _assumed_ it was a key to my palace?”

“I mean that’s correct,” Kotake stated, “Sort of—who do you think made these keys?”

Ganon and Vaati looked over at one another for a moment, Vaati trying to make sense of the growing pit building his stomach before nervously speaking, “I—didn’t _I_ make those?”

Koume and Kotake looked at each other for a moment before turning back to him, “Vaati, what do you _remember_?”

“What do you mean?”

“Dear—” Kotake moved over to his side, “Dear, the _royal family_ made these keys to keep _you_ out of the Palace of Winds should you ever return.”

“What—?” Vaati’s eyes went wide, “But—I—”

Vaati sat there for a moment, trying to comb his mind for anything he could remember, any recollection of the times he was free. His mind could only bring up images of his defeat and the knowledge that the Wind Palace was _his_. _Right? It—it must be mine, mustn’t it? But then how did the royal family cast a spell to keep me out? Wouldn’t something built with **my magic** be incompatible with such tampering?!_ His mind wandered, for just a second, to a princess from ages long past, a brief interaction between them.

_“Ugh,” She made a face in disgust, “You plan to marry me here? In these ruins?”_

_“Ruins?!” The deep voice of the demon bellowed, “My dear fiancée, my palace is absolutely exquisite!”_

_“Right,” She rolled her eyes sarcastically, “ **Your** palace, of course, how foolish of me but I was under the assumption that this was the Palace of Winds.”_

_“Yes,” The demon side eyed her, “The Palace of Winds, my palace.”_

_“Oh?” She cocked and eyebrow._

Vaati stared at his hands for a moment, mind racing before he was shaken from his thoughts by a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked at it, then at the man it belonged to. Ganon’s golden eyes were full of concern and as Vaati turned around to face him Ganon’s hand moved from his shoulder to his upper arm, rubbing soothing circles in it. Wide red eyes stared back at soft and caring golden ones, Vaati’s breath unsteady as he goes to speak, “I—I can’t recall much about my life before being freed this time around. I just have fragments of memories—I think I tried to marry someone once?”

Both witches couldn’t help but let a laugh slip out of them, despite trying their best to remain serious, “You’d captured the Princess of Hyrule—according to the legend—and had intended to marry her. The Hylians had a few other legends surrounding you, that you’d captured anyone who’d caught your fancy long ago, that you’d cause unspeakable chaos throughout the land, quite a long rap sheet.”

“I recall my defeats, I believe,” Vaati looked up at Ganon, “For some reason those seemed to be on my mind while I was imprisoned.”

“Perhaps,” Ganon started, “You shouldn’t focus on it right now, we have the information we need about the gems, so you can try to recover some of your memories later, when you’re ready to.”

“Yeah,” Vaati took a deep breath, “Yeah, thanks.”

Ganon nodded and pulled the mage into another hug, once again surprising the man and pulling him further away from his unpleasant thoughts. It almost terrified him how easily he could be comforted by the other man’s touch, but he wasn’t about to deny that in this moment he really did need it. A sigh escaped him as he relaxed, letting his head rest on Ganon’s chest as he closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around him to return the hug. He felt Ganon squeeze him lightly once he returned the hug and couldn’t help but smile, the lingering unfamiliarity he felt at the affection greatly overshadowed by the soothing presence Ganon offered. Koume set another drink on the table in front of them and both men looked over, between the drink and Koume.

“I figure this might be beneficial for your mind,” she smiled, “To give it a small break.”

“Ah,” Vaati smiled as he took the drink in hand, “Thank you.”

“You should also take a bath,” Kotake chuckled, “You’re getting your old man sand crust all over the place.”

Vaati looked at them, cocking an eyebrow and smiling warmly before retorting, “You’re right, wouldn’t want it to join forces with the crust you two old witches’ve shed.”

Both the twins and Ganon gawked at the wind mage, but the twins took note that his words nor his voice held any malice, but instead amusement. Kotake cocked her eyebrow at the man, “Please, our crust would beat yours out in a heartbeat you walking relic.”

“I don’t know Kotake,” Koume chuckled, “You’re both fossils, are you sure you’re both not the crusty remnants of who you both thought you were?”

“Koume!” Kotake gasped, “You’re supposed to be on my side!”

“I’m on my side.” Koume snorted.

“Ladies, ladies,” Vaati got their attention, both of them waiting for the common follow up to those words _Ladies, Ladies, you’re both pretty_ , but were shocked when the next words out of his mouth were, “—I’m pretty.”

At that they just stared between each other, Ganon’s mouth agape at the words that were coming out of the mouth of not only the man in his arms but his moms as well. After a second of silence the three old spell casters burst into laughter and Ganon could swear his jaw almost hit the floor.

“You really are a bat-shaped bitch,” Kotake laughed as she raised her drink, “I like it!”

“Oh, so that explains a conversation I overheard from some of the lizalfos,” Vaati chuckled, “Cheers, you old crones.”

“Glad to see you’re starting to feel better,” Koume raised her glass to theirs, “You bitchy fossil.”

They tapped their glasses together and took a drink, Vaati nearly downing his entirely and smiled, Ganon relaxing as his shock subsided. _Ah, they’re getting along._ The twins chuckled a bit as they turned to their son, “You should bathe too, you’re covered in sand and Vaati’s old man dirt.”

“Aw, fine,” Ganon sighed as he got up, adjusting his hold on the sorcerer so that he stayed in the Gerudo man’s arms as he rose. Vaati blinked for a moment, stunned by the movement as both twins let out a surprised laugh at what they’d just witnessed.

“Uh,” Vaati looked up at the man holding him, confusion on his face, “I can walk, you don’t _need_ to carry me.”

“Hmm, I have a better idea.” Ganon grinned and changed the position so that he was now carrying the mage bridal style. Both twins couldn’t contain their outburst of laughter at the scene in front of them. Vaati was at a loss for words at this point as Ganon gave his moms a light bow of his head before heading off in the direction of the bath. The purple man’s face flushed as the laughing twins began to sing a bridal march theme as they left the room and Ganon chuckled at the reaction. Vaati shot Ganon a look as if to convey the words: _Really?_ As he saw Ganon’s smug grin grow wider across his face. It was then that an idea popped into Vaati’s mind.

“My savior!” Vaati feigned the voice of a damsel in distress and brought the back of his hand dramatically up to rest on his forehead, “Here to save me from the dread of dirt!” Ganon couldn’t contain the laugh that left his lips as he looked down at the purple man in surprise as Vaati continued, “My knight in shining suds!”

“I will drop you,” Ganon tried to sound serious, but failed as he couldn’t hold back his laughter.

“Awah!” Vaati cried out dramatically in that dammed damsel voice, “My savior?! Threatening to drop me?!”

It was only then—too late—that Vaati had realized that they’d entered a room with a gorgeous oasis, an enchantment over it creating light droplets of rain to fall from the roof that held glowing blue crystals on it—the same crystals embedded in the oasis floor—illuminating the room and the water beautifully. Before he could take back his words he was tossed unceremoniously into the water. Ganon quickly stripped, chuckling as the mage popped back up from under the water, he gave him a moment to breathe again before jumping into the water, a wave from where he entered splashing Vaati right in the face. Ganon emerged himself and smiled, chuckling at the soaked wind sorcerer before being splashed himself.

“Fucker!” Vaati laughed as he splashed at the larger man, Ganon snorting as he began to splash the man back. The two continued like this, splashing one another with greater and greater ferocity until they both found themselves laughing too hard to continue. Vaati continued to chuckle as he struggled a bit to get out of his now wet clothes, too lazy to get out of the water and dry them using magic. Ganon snickered and moved over to him.

“Here, let me help you.” Ganon smiled and Vaati chuckled as he nodded, both he and Ganon getting him undressed faster than he would’ve been able to manage himself.

“Hey,” Vaati looked up at him, failing to hold back more laughter, as though it’d infected them both and had yet to be cured, “Think you could get the tie out of my hair? I think you were right; I think my hair ate it.”

“Pfft, sure,” Ganon chuckled and moved behind Vaati, fingers carefully working their way through his hair and he slowly undid the knots that had been building around the tie. Vaati relaxed, the motions soothing, the tension in his head feeling as though it was being massaged out. It wasn’t long before Ganon was able to undo the tie, Vaati’s hair cascading around his face and neck. He turned and smiled contently up at Ganon.

“Thanks,” He chuckled.

“Yeah—” Ganon stared at him, soft golden eyes distracted once again by the features of the smaller man’s face. He absentmindedly brushed the wet strands of hair out of Vaati’s face, both men holding their breath in that moment, catching one another’s gaze. In the silence it felt as though the water had shifted both men closer together, Vaati now able to take in the way Ganon’s long red hair framed his face and perfectly complimented the bright, golden eyes the man had. He could see the red stubble on his face as it lined his strong chin. Ganon could take in the way the blue glow of the stones around them made the pale, purple man look almost as though he himself was emitting the soft incandescent light and contrasted against the man’s vibrant red eyes, giving them an almost purple overtone. _Fitting_ , he thought, for the purple man, his eyes once again fell upon the scar over his now uncovered eye, and his hand moved over to the cheek nearby, thumb tracing over the bottom of the scar softly.

“Hey, I brought you some towels!” Koume entered the room.

Both men screamed and fell backwards into the water away from each other.


	6. Plans Laid Bare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ganon and Vaati discuss their little moment, the Blue Knight is interrogated, Koume and Kotake need a drink.
> 
> CW: Scars

“Honestly, you boys need to be more careful.” Kotake huffed as she healed Vaati’s injured arm, “What did you say caused you both to slip, again?”

“Nothing—! A leever!” Ganon shot up, face lit with embarrassment.

“Ghosts—!” Vaati added immediately, face just as flushed as Ganon’s.

“Really?!” Ganon looked over at Vaati, “Ghosts?! That’s your go to?!”

“Oh, and leevers are better?!” Vaati glared up at him, “At least ghosts are more believable!”

Kotake stared in confusion at the bickering duo, eyes catching the figure of Koume quietly moving through the background of the kitchen as she passed by with a new drink in hand. She met her sister’s confused stare and laughed silently in response, looking over the pair who’d been too busy arguing to notice her and then back over to Kotake, winking at her as she left. That brief, silent interaction had left the witch with even more questions as to _what in Subrosia was going on?_ As her mind scrambled to think of anything that could have brought this on. There was a thought that popped into her head and suddenly everything started to click. She regarded the two men in front of her, smirking as she gets an evil little idea.

“I do hope you two will learn to keep your bickering to a minimum—for your sake,” She chuckled, “Seeing as you’ll both need to share Gan’s old room when you turn in for the night.”

The two stopped and stared at her—eyes wide and mouths wider—before turning to one another, completely at a loss for words. Ganon’s face flushing while Vaati’s already pale face manages to grow even paler. Kotake wrapped up Vaati’s healing arm and chuckled.

“Now, you two go get ready,” She got up, grabbing a drink for herself, “We’ll have to figure out your next move regarding the problem we locked up in the attic and go from there, Gan you can show Vaati to your room.”

Both men nodded silently and disappeared back down hallway, something curious catching the witch’s eye. For the briefest second she could almost see the spark of desperation in the mage’s eyes, as though there were something about their sleeping arrangements that was of deeper concern to him. For a moment she’d almost taken back her words but shook it off, if something were truly wrong between them she’d know—no, there was something else going on with the mage. She would not be the one he’d go to about it, however—but there was a man she sensed he would feel comfortable disclosing it to.

“Uh—you can take the bed if you want, I’m okay using the mat on the ground,” Ganon coughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his head, opening the door to his old room for the oddly silent man beside him. Vaati barely registered his words, busy trying to ease his mind of something and focused on admiring the room—it was of good size, the bed huge—neatly made and sheets of beautiful quality and design, red silk with soft gold embroidering in various patterns. It’d been covered in various soft looking pillows and one small stuffed animal boar. Ganon’s face lit a bright red and he quickly grabbed the plush, shoving it in at the top of the nicely carved wooden dresser drawer nearby. Atop it was a mirror and various perfumes and candles. On the opposite side of the room lay a desk and bookshelf, both showing signs of frequent use as books and papers lay all around the area, however the books had been laid neatly around wherever they were placed rather than mindlessly strewn about like the papers. Moonlight flitted into the room from the windows next to the bed and desk, stars visible from the skylight carved through the stone to the top of the temple. Ganon lit the lamp by the bed as Vaati walked in further, finding himself on a soft red rug that looked as though it’d been recently cleaned. Ganon nervously placed a hand on the shoulder of the spaced-out wind sorcerer from behind him, bringing the man back from his thoughts.

“Hey—I,” Ganon removed his hand from the man’s shoulder as he felt him tense, “I’m sorry, about earlier, what I did was out of line and it made you uncomfortable—I understand, we don’t have to stay in the room together, I can talk to my moms, or sleep on the couch.”

“…” Vaati brought his hands up and gripped his own forearms, holding himself, refusing to face the Triforce holder, “That’s not it.”

“What—?” Ganon’s eyes shifted to surprised confusion, “I—please, tell me then, I just want to help you.”

“It—” Vaati’s grip on himself slacked and he rubbed his arms, “It’s—unsightly.”

“What is?”

“—Me.”

“What?” Ganon couldn’t refrain the soft chuckled that left his lips, “You’re not unsightly at all!”

“Not like _this_ ,” Vaati nearly growled, “But _this_ takes work to maintain. Work I can’t put in when I’m unconscious. I’m lucky that this face only held _one_ mark because trying to conceal something on my face with the way all of the muscles move and emote is an absolute nightmare!”

“What are you—” It was then that Vaati’s words really hit home to him. The lone mark on his eye stuck out because it was the only one, but of course it couldn’t be just one. Ganon took a breath and held it as he spoke next, “Are you—worried? About what I’d think if I were to see the way you looked? Is that why you left Hyrule Castle shortly after changing—why you were complaining about this form in the nightmare temple?”

Vaati’s hands gripped his arms hard and Ganon feared that the mage might draw blood, “Would I be wrong? You’d already gaped at the scar across my eye.”

“You think I found it repulsive?” Ganon’s eyes grew to the size of saucers, “Far from it.”

“Oh? Well then, perhaps these are also fine to you!” Vaati turned, angry and removed the towel from his waist as in a flash the façade was gone, body littered with scars that would be considered horrifying by anyone else. Ganon—however—felt his heart just break at both sight and situation. The mage had been littered mostly with slash marks, however there were several more concerning marks, the deepest being both across his chest and upper arms. They were very distinctly not sword marks; they were jagged and disjointed and very much claw marks. There were two on his chest in a crisscross pattern, and four on each forearm. Another point of concern were the seemingly odd, thick, black tattoo-looking marks appearing as a solid ring around both wrists, almost appearing as though they could be representative of shackles. However, the worst of the sight were the mage's eyes—Ganon decided. They were afraid, ashamed, mournful, and guarded all at once. Ganon took a tentative step towards the mage, trying to be careful not to break the currently fragile trust the man had just offered him. When he was certain he wouldn’t spook the man, he gently brought a hand up to his face, running his thumb along his cheek.

“They look painful, that much is true,” Ganon started, heart hammering in his chest as the sorcerer looked down, “But they don’t do anything to make you appear “repulsive”—quite the opposite, in my opinion.”

“—What?” Vaati met his gaze again, eyes wide in disbelief and searching soft golden ones for a hint of deception, “I’m sorry—do you need glasses? Are we looking at the same body right now?”

“Oh, my eyes work just fine, old man.” Ganon chuckled and moved closer to him, “Your body is covered in scars, marked with the stories of battles that you’d survived. It’s the body of a warrior.”

Vaati felt his jaw drop, brain short-circuiting at the words that’d just come out of Ganon’s mouth. His brain managed to provide him with one more idea—one last way to get the reaction he’d prepared for. He stepped back and turned around, revealing the engraved symbol of an eye along his spine, the same one that was his symbol only set vertically with a horizontally laid triangle fit perfectly inside the iris—the full mark defined by the same black outline and fill, giving it a similar tattoo appearance to his wrists, “What about this, hm?”

“Your mark.” Ganon reached out and gently ran his fingers along it without thinking, Vaati’s next words dying in his throat as he felt Ganon caressing the mark along his back. His brain scrambled to make sense of Ganon’s words and actions on the matter—trying to figure out how what he could see as pathetic, unseemly markers of defeat, Ganon could view as etched stories of survival on a warrior. That the man could look at the engraved symbol along his back and not only be undeterred but compelled to touch something that could be considered horrifying. The mage’s mind ran, round and round again, until the man finally let out a sigh of defeat. Ganon had been too caught up in feeling over the mark to realize he’d been absentmindedly feeling the whole of the man’s back, and his touch had made it hard for Vaati to come up with any counter to Ganon’s words, so the mage let himself relax and lean back into Ganon.

“You win this one,” Vaati chuckled, “Ganon: Four; Vaati: Zero.”

Ganon let out a laugh of surprise and in his delight wrapped his arms around the purple man, grinning from ear to ear as he lifted him up. Vaati couldn’t help but start laughing himself, turning around to return the hug of the man holding him, head resting on his shoulder.

“Though I couldn’t have you sleeping on a mat in your own room,” Vaati chuckled, “I’d say the bed would be big enough for both of us but I tend to move a lot in my sleep.”

“Hah,” Ganon smiled, “I tend to be a hugger in my sleep, so I’d be just as remiss to subject you to that.”

“Right,” Vaati smirked and gestured to their current position, “We’re both so opposed to your affectionate tendencies.”

Ganon flushed as he realized that he was—in fact—hugging the naked mage while he himself only donned a towel. Vaati caught sight of the reddening face of the man holding him and couldn’t help but laugh, finding the sight endlessly adorable and gently brought his hand up to rest it on Ganon’s cheek. Ganon began to pout as Vaati laughed at him, “Oh, you think this is funny?”

“Very.” Vaati smirked, red eyes now relaxed and unguarded completely.

“Why you—” Ganon’s next actions were done before he could stop them, both he and Vaati were already too close and before his mind could stop him his lips met the wind mage’s. It was soft, but brief as both men had moved back in shock, Ganon setting Vaati down as he immediately began rambling.

“I’m so sorry—that was out of line—I shouldn’t’ve—I should’ve asked—I—”

Ganon’s apologies were cut short as the mage grabbed his face and brought him down for another, deeper kiss. Ganon’s eyes grew wide for a moment, processing what was happening, before he let them fall closed and relaxed, wrapping his arms around Vaati as he began to kiss back. They kept like that—hands gently finding their way into each other’s hair—until the sounds of something being teleported into the room took their attention. It was their clothes, cleaned and folded with a note on the stack. They looked at one another for a moment, trying to catch their breath, faces flushed, and started to laugh between themselves.

“Oh right.” Vaati snickered.

“The Hylian knight.” Ganon chuckled and rested his forehead against Vaati’s.

“We should probably get dressed,” Vaati laughed, “Doubt the monsters in this temple want to see a nude wind demon running around it.”

“They’d certainly have no accounting for taste to be opposed to such a magnificent sight.” Ganon smirked as he looked the man up and down.

“And your moms?” Vaati cocked an eyebrow quizzically at the Gerudo.

“Ah,” Ganon coughed, “True, Ganon: Four; Vaati: One.”

“Hah!” Vaati snickered as he threw his shirt on, tossing Ganon his own clothing, “Finally, a point in my favor.”

“Just three more to go,” Ganon reminded him with a smirk, “Unless I manage to gain more points in the interim.”

Vaati just stuck his tongue out at the larger man as he put on his pants, letting out a yelp as he was then promptly picked up and kissed once again.

“Kotake, are you sure that was a good idea?” Koume chuckled, “They’ve been in there for an hour.”

“We only sent them their clothes a little over fifteen minutes ago,” Kotake chuckled, “Be patient.”

“Patient?” Koume scoffed, “And wait for them to—”

“Sorry we’re so late Vabarova,” Ganon chuckled as he entered the room, “I’d gotten caught up in showing Vaati the room.”

“Quite lovely.” Vaati smiled as he entered in behind him, hair tied up more neatly than what he’d managed before, as it he’d had help this time around. Both witches looked at each other, Kotake smirking before turning back over to the boys.

“That’s alright dear,” Kotake smirked, “You didn’t take much time at all.”

“Moving on to the issue at hand,” Koume glared at her sister before looking back over at Gan and Vaati, “What do you wish to do about the Hylian?”

Ganon thought for a moment before looking over at Vaati, gently holding the mages hand in his own, “What do you think we should do?”

“Hmm,” Vaati thought, leaning closer to Ganon, “Well, we have one knight and one gem, so perhaps we could interrogate him to get the location of the other three so that we could at least open the gates to my old place and go from there?”

“Even though the gems hurt you?” Kotake questioned.

“I mean,” Vaati rubbed the back of his head, “We would still benefit from getting into my place, besides, Gan, you’re okay with handling the gems, yeah?”

“Of course,” Ganon smiled and gave Vaati’s hand a gentle squeeze. Koume was about to say something about it but Kotake shot her a knowing look before continuing.

“Sounds like a plan,” Kotake smiled, “Here, I’ll start the portal.”

With that she began a small incantation as an inky black void opened beneath them all, Vaati gripping onto Ganon from the sudden disorientation as they reappeared in a room unfamiliar to Ganon. They were on a platform mark by the symbol of the sun, inscriptions in Gerudo encircling it, the wall surrounding them covered from top to bottom in the same enchanted writings that lit up that same incandescent blue that they’d seen in the oasis in a cascading effect. In the center of the room sat the Blue Knight, magic holding his shackles to the ground. He looked up, staring directly at Ganon, and glared at the larger man.

“You,” He spat, “Vile incarnation of evil!”

“Oh good,” Vaati smirked, “He’s awake.”

“Do your worst!” The knight screamed, “I can take whatever you plan to do to me!”

Ganon looked at Vaati uncomfortably, raising an eyebrow at the mage, expression asking the purple man to take the lead on this one before looking back at his mothers, “Vabarova, are you certain you wish to be here for this—or that we should be doing this in whatever this ritual room is?”

“Oh no vovhe, it’s okay,” Kotake looked around, not meeting her son’s gaze, “This room was used for such—practices, during the wars—”

“We’ve had to use this room before,” Koume coughed nervously, giving Ganon a sheepish smile as he looked at them in disbelief. Vaati walked over to the knight, kneeling beside him and chuckling.

“You really think you could defeat us?” Vaati smirked, “You and your little knight friends? And your little jewels?”

“Fuck you!” He barked, “We’ve more than prepared for you and for the cursed megalomaniac!”

“Oh please,” Vaati rolled his eyes, “What could you’ve possibly prepared that could match our power?”

“We’ve taken the other temples!” He hissed, “We’ve prepared them for your arrivals! They know you’ve taken me and increased their forces and traps tenfold! It’s over for you!”

“Ah,” Vaati felt a Cheshire grin split across his face, gently patting the knight’s head, “Thank you, for the information.”

“What—NO!” The man began to squirm and thrash violently, attempting to get at the man that’d he’d just given up the information to, getting the attention of the three other people in the room.

“Don’t despair,” Vaati cackled, “I would’ve gotten this out of you either way, I just decided to opt for the non-painful option first. I can do far more than just warp minds; the brain holds quite a powerhouse of information.”

“Wait—!” The man screamed as Vaati began to prepare a spell, “You don’t understand who you travel with! That man—he’s the incarnation of all evil! He’s the cursed one—doomed to repeat a vicious cycle of hate and malice for all eternity! You both will fall if you follow him!”

“…” Vaati fell silent, catching the somber look on both Ganon’s and the Twinrova’s faces, feeling the creeping familiarity of his own sentiment just a day prior to the fate of himself and the man he’d been freed by, and with a snarl replied, “Not if I have anything to say about it.”

He dropped the spell he was about to cast and instead snapped his fingers, knocking the knight in his sights unconscious before turning back to face the twins and Ganon, plan forming in his head as he walked over to them, eyes steeled with determination, _I will make this work, for him_.

“I have the location of the other gems,” He gently grabbed Ganon’s hand, “If you can perform a counteractive curse over them to nullify their effects we can spread them over Hyrule and link them in conjuncture with the Dark Mirror to thin the barrier between the two worlds, doubling our forces and giving Shadow easy travel between the two worlds without the use of a Moon Pearl, allowing us similar access with the use of a small amount of magic since we’re both bound of this world—wait that’s it!”

Ganon just stared, taking in the newfound determination and strategy of his partner, brain trying to process the whiplash of being called out for his fated curse before being defended by the man in front of him in seeming offense of all things destined, “—What’s what?”

“The bomb!” Vaati smiled brightly and cupped Ganon’s face, both twins staring at this sudden development in similar shock at how quickly the mage’s tune shifted, “If Shadow can easily traverse between worlds he can lay a bomb and hide in the Dark World while it detonates!”

“That—” Ganon lit up and picked up the mage, “That’s brilliant!”

“And with the added forces from the Dark World,” Vaati grinned, “And the new battle on that front, we can mobilize a full offensive to destabilize the land now that their ruler is in our clutches and the castle under our control!”

“The hero will need days—” Ganon laughed and spun the man around, “Literal days to undo the damage we’ve done!”

“Oh, that’s not all my dear Triforce holder—” Vaati laughed, “I know a way to steal the energy from the land and its people, we could use it to store up the power to get the other pieces of Triforce from the hero and the princess—permanently—and ensure a better life for the Gerudo!”

Ganon beamed at the man in his arms and laughed with him as they spun around happily, the twins looking nervously between each other at the sight. Despite the happiness between the two men, the witches eyes were filled with horror and apprehension—both at the validity and implications of the plan set by the mage. They were thankful, in that moment, that their presence went ignored by the two happy idiots as their own plan crumbled in front of them. They were happy—at first—at seeing the mage’s loyalty to their son, but now they’d felt their plan would’ve worked better if he’d been what they’d expected. They both let out a defeated breath, interlocking hands and sending a silent prayer to the Goddess of Sands that this new trajectory would end well, before turning back over to their oblivious son and mage—both still too caught up in the excitement of their new plan.

“Alright boys,” Kotake feigned exhaustion, “Let’s get some rest, we can move forward on this plan tomorrow.”

They nodded happily and the four of them were transported back to the kitchen, the two smiling morons giving their goodnights before bounding down the hallway, their laughter and talks of conquest audible from the kitchen where the twins stayed, both sitting down with another drink, silently looking between one another solemnly.

_Please,_ their thoughts begged in unison, _Please, if any goddess is listening._

_We don’t have the strength to go through this again, so please,_

_Please save our son._


	7. Bat Dad and Papa Pig

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dawn of the third day, ??? hours remain.

Ganon was the first to awaken, fragments of morning light slipping through the window, illuminating the pale, sleeping face of the man in his arms. He held in a chuckle at the sight of the mage, draped in one of Ganon’s own shirts that fit him like a loose nightgown—the only comfortable thing they could find that would fit the man. Ganon gently ran his fingers through messy purple locks, heart melting as Vaati shifted closer to him, mumbling something incoherent in his sleep. He almost couldn’t bring himself to wake the relaxed man, but there was work to be done.

“Sav’otta sleeping beauty,” Ganon chuckled, “C’mon, time to wake up—”

“Shhh,” Ganon was interrupted by the mage, the pale man reaching up and laid his hand right over the larger man’s face, “Five mo—min—”

Ganon laughed as the man’s slurred speech tapered out into the sound of soft, light snoring. He gently caressed the mage’s cheek, chest rumbling with a deep chuckle as the purple man tried to swat his hand away sleepily, pressing his face into Ganon’s chest.

**_SLAM—CRASH_**

Red eyes snapped open; annoyance clear on his expression. Ganon would have almost found it cute had he too not been distracted by the sounds of destruction that had reverberated across the Temple. Both men huffed and looked at one another before sitting up. Ganon began to stretch as Vaati rubbed the sleep from his eyes before scratching at the new stubble that’d started to grow on his chin.

“Shit,” Vaati yawned, “I don’t recall learning how to shave.”

“You could use magic.” Ganon reminded him.

“Oh yeah,” Vaati said tiredly, “I have magic.”

Ganon just laughed and shook his head, “I could also do the shaving for you, I was thinking about letting my beard grow out anyways—”

**_BOOM_**

“After we deal with that.” Vaati groaned and stood up, bending over to put on his pants as the shirt nearly fell off his shoulders at the sudden movements. Ganon’s mind was distracted—briefly—by the sight of him before he shook himself from such thoughts, _focus—sounds of destruction—need to investigate_. Ganon stood up, cracking his back before they left the room, heading towards the offending racket. They were greeted by Koume as they passed the kitchen.

“Sav’otta,” She chuckled as she cooked breakfast, “Kotake has taken it upon herself to start training the vovhes, if you’re concerned about the noise.”

“Oh, thank the Sand Goddess,” Ganon let out a sigh of relief, “I was worried they’d gotten into trouble.”

“Oh good, so I can just—” Vaati leaned back into Ganon and started to close his eyes, only to be picked up by the laughing Gerudo.

“Oh no,” Ganon laughed, “Now that you’re finally awake we need to get ready for the day.”

“Nooooooo,” Vaati whined in defeat, “C’mon, just five—”

“I’ll make it worth your while.”

Vaati raised a brow at the smirking man holding him and chuckled, “I suppose you could convince me—”

“Vovhe—please,” Koume huffed, “You have a room, don’t you? I’m trying to make breakfast here.”

“That’s right! Put your back into it!” Kotake cheered as one of the Shadow Links began to spin around the room, guided by the wooden sword in his hands. The others jumped out of the way effortlessly, laughing as the shade stopped spinning and wobbled around as he tried to regain a sense of equilibrium. There were two who had been undisturbed by the spin attack—locked in intense combat with one another.

“You’re ‘bout to admit that a zillion isn’t a real number!”

“In your dreams nerd!”

Their swords clashed fiercely, wood nearly splintering at the impact. They continued like that, their battle getting the attention of the others as it became more and more heated. Soon enough they were the center of attention, the rest watching quietly to see who would emerge the victor. It was then that one was able to gain the upper hand over the other, the sword in their hand finally breaking. Seizing his chance, he thrust forward—only for the unarmed Shadow to back-flip onto the wooden sword, smirking at the surprised look on his double before pulling his hat over his shocked face and jumping off the sword before it broke, laughing.

“Take that, nerd!” He cackled as he landed behind his foe.

“Oh yeah?” The nerd smirked as he pulled his hat off and focused, just like when he’d focused on making clones—only this time on something more insidious as he changed color, now looking like a perfect copy of his green counterpart, “How ‘bout this?”

“Whoa! How’d you do that?!”

“I just focused on it. Just like with the Dark Mirror when dad told me to—”

“DAD! OH HYLIA YOU CALLED HIM DAD!”

“NO I DIDN’T!” He flushed, his appearance shifting back to normal.

“YES YOU DID!” He laughed, “I’M TELLING VAATI!”

Just as he made a break for the door the other Shadow was upon him, tackling him out the door, both boys landing on the hallway wall—right in front of a very surprised Vaati and Ganon.

“Tell me what?” Vaati crossed his arms and looked at the two quizzically as both boys looked at each other nervously. One Shadow glared at the other, their counterpart starting to grin menacingly.

“Don’t—”

“SHADOW CALLED YOU DAD!”

Vaati blinked and looked up at Ganon, who looked just as perplexed as the mage. Both men looked back over at the two boys—one Shadow mortified while the other was smiling triumphantly.

“Oh, okay.” Vaati said, getting the attention of both shocked Shadows.

“What?!”

“Eh, dad has a nice ring to it.” Vaati shrugged.

“How come I don’t get to be called dad?” Ganon pouted as both shades felt their jaws hit the floor.

“Oi—oi,” Vaati laughed, “Didn’t I say that you were “mom” before?”

“THAT WAS WHEN YOU WERE MOCKING ME!” Ganon shot back indignantly as the mage began to laugh harder.

“I mean you’re technically dad number one.” Shadow spoke.

“Hmm,” Ganon rubbed his chin in thought, “The number one dad does sound good, but it’s a bit of a mouthful.”

“Here’s an idea,” Vaati smirked and put his arm around Gan’s shoulder as the man glared at him, “Ganondad.”

“I hate you.” Ganon huffed.

“You love me and you know it,” Vaati chuckled, “What about something like pop, or papa?”

“I like pop!” The other Shadow shot up excitedly, “It’s like the sound of something breaking! It’s super cool!”

“Yeah!” The other Shadow joined in, “Like the sound of something when you crush it! Pop!”

Both boys were too distracted at that point, bouncing more and more macabre ideas for what exactly makes a “pop” sound. Both Ganon and Vaati looked back at one another, both with an uncomfortable smile at the exact conversation of their newly dubbed sons.

“Anyways,” Ganon coughed, “We came to see how training was going for everyone before moving on today’s attack.”

“An attack?!”

“Who are we attacking?!”

“Will we get to blow things up?! I like blowing things up!”

“Now, now,” Vaati calmed the rowdy Shadows, “Your part will come in after, for now there are a couple of things we will have to take care of first.”

“Yes!” Ganon smiled and knelt to meet them eye to eye, “For now you boys are to practice under Vabake, she’s quite skilled as you’ve probably seen.”

“She’s been teaching us an extra spinning spin attack!”

“And how to charge power into our sword swings!”

“Here, watch!”

Before either Ganon or Vaati could say anything, one of the Shadow’s spun wildly down the hall, knocking into the wall at the end and falling over. The two men shrieked and rushed over to his side as the other Shadow giggled at his dizzy double. The disoriented shade looked up at his dads with a laugh, “Whoa, that was fun! I’m ‘gonna do it again!”

“No!” Both men shouted simultaneously, looking at one another with concern before Vaati continued.

“What we mean to say is—” Vaati scrambled to think up an excuse, “That move was very impressive, but we can’t have you hurting yourself every time you perform it—try to have Vabake teach you how to better control it.”

“Valiant effort, son!” Ganon grinned, “You kids are making great progress.”

The Shadow Link beamed at the praise, shooting to his feet and hugging his dads before darting down to hall towards the other Shadow before turning around, grin on his face, “We’ll keep up the good work!”

“Love you!”

“Love you too!” The two men smiled and waved as one of the Shadows pushed the other back into the training room. Ganon let out a content sigh before catching the smirk on the mages face. Bemused, he leaned over to meet the man at eye level.

“And what’s that look for?” Ganon raised a brow.

“Ganondad.” Vaati chuckled and lightly poked the taller man’s cheek.

“Oh, shut up.” Ganon tried to scowl but couldn’t hold in the laugh that rose through him despite his best efforts.

“So, were you going to come in or did you not want to say hi to your own mother?” Kotake looked at them quizzically, giggling at the surprised look on their faces.

“Ah—Sorry Vabake!” Ganon yelped, “We were—we just got a bit—”

“Distracted.” Vaati finished, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish smile.

“Seems to be a common occurrence when you’re together,” Kotake smirked as she rolled her eyes, “Anyways, the boys are fast learners—strong too! They should be ready in no time at all.”

“That’s great! But—” Gan coughed, “We also need your help with something else.”

“Oh?” Kotake chuckled, “Let me guess, flaw in the plan?”

“Well—” Ganon looked around the room.

“We need your help with the curse,” Vaati gently took Ganon’s hand in his own before continuing, “We need something that creates a field that nullifies the gems’ effects on me.”

“Oh,” Kotake blinked, “That’s it?”

“Uh—yeah?” The two looked at each other, then at her, confused.

“Oh, vovhe that’s easy,” Kotake laughed, “Here—it’s basically breakfast time—I’ll send the vovhes over to Koume and I’ll fix that gem up for you; you two continue whatever it is you were doing.”

With that she ushered all of the Shadow Links down the hall before teleporting, giving neither the mage nor her son a moment to get a word out before she was gone. Vaati gave Ganon a questioning look and the confused Gerudo man just shrugged, “She does this a lot, once she commits to something there’s no stopping her.”

“Reminds me of someone.” Vaati smirked as Ganon laughed and nudged his shoulder playfully before leading him further down the hallway. They came to a large room with ornate double doors leading into it, at the center was a map of Hyrule and behind it appeared to be an armory. Vaati was very instantly taken with the weaponry, marveling at the range of items and craftsmanship, completely ignoring the exacerbated taller man trying to point his attention at the map. Finally, Ganon let out a sigh and laughed in defeat, making his way over to the distractible sorcerer.

“Find something you like?” He raised a brow.

“Look at all of these swords and knives!” Vaati beamed, “Farore’s fucking wind they’re incredible! And immaculate! Look at the shine! Oh, sweet Hylia I completely missed the spears!”

“Perhaps we can take inventory _after_ we plan out which temples to go after first?” Ganon smirked as Vaati flushed with embarrassment and gently caressed his reddening cheek before giving him a chaste kiss. He took the mage’s hand in his own and led him back to the map, pressing a button as the inscriptions on the sides lit up. Suddenly there was the glimmer of illusory magic in the air as the map projected itself as a three-dimensional image, causing the sorcerer’s eyes to widen in awe as Ganon smiled warmly at his partner’s reaction.

“So,” Ganon started, focusing his attention back at the map, “There are a few temples scattered about Hyrule, but as far as I know for certain the Temple of Darkness is currently under the command of some of my best soldiers, so I’d say for now it’s safe to rule that one out. That just leaves three temples I can think of as to where they would be, the Temple of Fire at the top of Death Mountain, the Temple of Hyrule in the center of Hyrule Field, and the Desert Temple nearby.”

“I thought we were in the Desert Temple?” Vaati looked up questioningly at Ganon as the larger man let out an amused laugh.

“This is going to be like the Western Palace thing again,” He giggled, “We’re in the _Sand Temple_ , traditionally called the _Spirit Temple_ , it’s in the desert—sure—but it’s far older than any other structures out here.”

“Ohhhhhhh,” The sorcerer nodded, “I think I actually heard of a Spirit Temple somewhere before, somewhere further than even my dimmest memories go.”

“Old man,” Ganon laughed, “If you were to tell me you were alive to see the construction of it, I would believe you.”

“Now y’see sonny boy—” Vaati smirked as he put on his fake old man voice again—much to Ganon delight as he couldn’t stop laughing even when he nudged the mage’s shoulder with a simple “shut up” murmured between breaths. It wasn’t long before their laughter died down and they were back to plotting.

“So, we’ll want to hit the Desert Temple first, yeah?” Vaati looked up at Ganon.

“Maybe,” Ganon shifted uneasily, “I was debating grabbing something from Hyrule Castle before moving forward with this plan.”

“What’s at Hyrule Castle?” Vaati blinked, “I searched that place up and down when I took it, I mean their armory is okay—not as great as this one, but it’s passable.”

“Well, I left something at the castle,” Ganon coughed, “It’s called the Trident of Power, and it definitely lives up to its name, but—"

“Difficult to wield?”

“It’s angry,” Ganon sighed and Vaati gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, “If I’m not careful I feel like I might lose myself in a mindless rage.”

“Well,” Vaati gently moved his hand up to Ganon’s cheek, “I’ll be with you the whole time, if anything starts to get out of control I can stop it and get the Trident away from you.”

“Are you sure?” Ganon took hold of the hand on his face, “What if I end up hurting you?”

“Oi—oi,” Vaati chuckled, “You said it yourself, I’m pretty powerful in my own right, try to give me a little credit.”

“…” Ganon let out a sigh and relaxed, closing his eyes and leaning into Vaati’s touch, “Fair enough, besides, if I do end up hurting you we can just count that as a point in your favor as recompense.”

“Exactly!” Vaati laughed, “It’ll be fine.”


	8. Oh How the Turns Have Tabled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vaati becomes a damsel in distress.

“GANON!”

“GANON PUT ME DOWN!”

“GANON PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW!”

The mage struggled, trying desperately to break free from the grasp the giant blue boar had on him as Ganon marched forward, laughing, the Green and Purple Jewels around his neck as a testament to his victories. Vaati huffed, wishing he’d been smart enough to get him to take the Blue Jewel off his own neck after it started to malfunction. _The ability to teleport would be really fucking helpful right now!_

“WE SHALL CONQUER HYRULE TOGETHER!” Ganon cackled, “WE SHALL CRUSH THESE WORTHLESS BASTARDS BENEATH OUR HEELS!”

“Ganny-dearest, I get that—I really do—but,” Vaati looked out over at Hyrule Castle in the distance, “MAYBE WE SHOULDN’T BE RAMPAGING IN THE OPEN, YEAH?”

“I WILL SKEWER ANYONE WHO WOULD DARE TRY TO HURT US!” Ganon laughed and took a swipe at the nearby trees, knocking them over with a loud bang.

_Why does something about this seem so eerily familiar?_ Vaati shook his head of that thought and shifted his attention back to the point of issue at hand. They were in Hyrule Field, Ganon was a gigantic blue pig-boar thing, Vaati couldn’t remove the Blue Jewel around his neck, and Ganon had completely lost control of himself. _Lovely_. The sorcerer probed the depths of his mind for any idea he could muster as to how to get Ganon back to normal. Somewhere, he distantly remembered something that he believes worked on him a long time ago.

“Wow,” Vaati shifted, resting his elbow on the hand holding him and holding his head in his own hand, using the other to draw cute circles on one of Ganon’s knuckles with his index finger, “That Trident is pretty powerful.”

“I—” Ganon stopped, looking over at his partner with a smile, “Yes it is!”

“And big, you’re pretty strong to wield it so well,” Vaati bit his lip suggestively, “Think I could get a closer look at it, love? It looks oh-so pretty like this!”

“Of course!” Ganon complied without a second thought, bringing the Trident close enough for Vaati to properly examine the thing. The mage regarded it with feigned marvel, waiting for just the right moment when it was close enough before wrapping his arms around it and clinging to it with a death-grip in an attempt to get Ganon to release it, “HEY! STOP THAT!”

“LET GO OF THE TRIDENT!” Vaati screamed, magic shooting from the weapon violently, going into the air and surrounding area as the two struggled against each other for the Trident. Ganon was trying carefully to get the mage off the thing without hurting him but it was proving to be increasingly more difficult until finally he had to give up as Vaati found his way out of Ganon’s grasp and was now clinging to the Trident.

“Vaati.” Ganon huffed, “Get. Off. My. Trident.”

“Let go of it!” Vaati stuck his tongue out at the boar, “Let go of it and I’ll get off!”

“Never!” Ganon barked, “I’m going to destroy Hyrule with it right now!”

“Fine then! You leave me no choice!” Vaati let his grip loosen just enough to slide down to the hand holding the Trident, muttering a quick apology before biting Ganon’s hand hard, sharp teeth drawing blood. Ganon screamed and a large burst of magic rang out from the Trident before he dropped it, Vaati letting go along with it as Ganon took a step back, holding his bleeding left hand in shock. His large, glowing yellow eyes looked right at Vaati for a second before the realization of exactly where he was and what he was doing hit him like a ton of bricks. He quickly transformed back and rushed over to Vaati, gently cupping his face.

“Oh dear Sand Goddess, I’m so sorry!” Ganon began to ramble in a panic, “Are you okay?! Are you hurt?! Are—”

Ganon was cut off by the sound to Vaati’s relieved laughter as the mage got up and gently brushed the snow— _Snow??? What? How did—_ It was then that the mage realized that the entirety Hyrule Field has suddenly frozen over. He looked up at the worried face of his partner and couldn’t help but let out another chuckle, “I’m fine, you’re the one currently bleeding here.”

“I—oh—oh shit I am.” Ganon quickly removed his bleeding hand from the mage’s face, holding it with his uninjured hand.

“Here—get this stupid necklace off of me so I can heal you.” Vaati smiled and Ganon nodded, quickly grabbing the gem off the man and putting it in his pocket with his free hand while Vaati began to heal his injured one, “Sorry for biting you, by the way.”

“Sorry for effectively kidnapping you.” Ganon chuckled, “I don’t know what came over me.”

“Hah, I remember I’m getting my dumbass thrown across the room,” Vaati rolled his eyes, “Next thing I know you’re a giant pig-man curb stomping the Purple Knight and gearing up to go hunt the next one down.”

“Yeah, the Green Knight definitely didn’t know what hit him,” Ganon smiled sheepishly, “I went a little overboard, didn’t I?”

“You kicked down the door and slammed his face into the ground before he could even start his speech!”

“So maybe a lot overboard, then?” Ganon rubbed the back of his head and the mage smiled and rolled his eyes, wrapping his arms around the taller man’s neck and pulling him in for a kiss. A stray snowflake floated between them, landing on Ganon’s nose, getting the attention of both men. It was only then that Ganon also realized that they were surrounded by a snow-covered field and forest.

“I—when—how—?”

“I’m pretty sure we accidentally did this when fighting for the Trident.” Vaati shrugged before getting an evil idea, carefully moving down to scoop some snow into his hands, rolling it into a small ball before throwing it at Ganon’s distracted face.

“Wha—! Why you—!” Ganon quickly scooped up snow of his own, throwing it at the mage as he yelped and managed to dodge out of the way. He went to stick his tongue out at the taller man but was immediately met with a snowball to the face. Ganon laughed—though only for a moment as Vaati had managed to land a snowball directly at his chest. He took one look at where it’d hit, before looking back at the mage and smirking, grabbing another handful of snow as he started to approach. Vaati let out a squeak and laughed as he began to run away, Ganon following close behind as the two began to exchange snowballs back and forth along their pursuit. By the time they had to stop to catch their breath they were both covered in snow, laughing as they fell back onto the soft ground together.

“Goddesses,” Ganon laughed breathlessly, propping himself up on his elbows as he looked over at Vaati, “I think I’ve laughed more this past week than I have in the past few years.”

“Oh, I do wonder how that happened,” Vaati feigned ignorance, “Perhaps it was the work of some very dashing young sorcerer?”

Ganon snorted and threw another snowball at Vaati as he sat up, “I do know a dashing sorcerer; however, I don’t recall meeting a dashing _young_ sorcerer. If you happen to find one could you introduce me?”

Vaati gawked in faux-offense and threw a snowball right back at Ganon, just barely managing to avoid getting hit with a retaliatory snowball himself before Ganon tackled him, both men laughing as they fell back onto the snow. Vaati was about to retort with what he thought was a _very_ witty quip of his own when the two men heard the telltale sound of footsteps in the snow. Ganon quickly helped the mage up as he got up himself, both men back to back, weapons drawn, spells being readied, scanning the area in high alert. Then they heard laughter echoing around them.

“Who would’ve thought,” The voice spoke, “That the two biggest threats to Hyrule would be so careless.”

“You’re one to talk,” Vaati sneered, “You’re currently trying to fuck with the two biggest threats.”

“Fair enough, however,” The smug tone seeped into every word they spoke, “I do believe I have one advantage here, _with all four Royal Jewels in hand_.”

“What the—FUCK!” Vaati’s words were cut short when a ring of magic formed around him, capturing him and holding him high in the air, out of Ganon’s grasp before the man had a chance to grab his mage. 

“VAATI!” Ganon screamed, readying his twin blades, looking around for where they’d left the Trident. Before him stood the Red Knight, sword and shield drawn, all four gems glowing around his neck. Vaati screamed and thrashed, trying to transform or access his magic or do something— _anything_ to break free so he could help Ganon. The Red Knight smirked, eyes and blade glowing as he cast something. Ganon’s blood ran cold as he heard the sorcerer let out a blood curdling scream behind him, the sounds of electrocution reverberating through the forest. At that he moved, fury raging through him as he started to attack the man in front of him, feeling a bit of relief that his action seemingly stopped the Knight’s electric spell. Their blades met and Ganon drew close to the man, taking the opportunity to headbutt him, knocking him back—but only just a bit before their dance continued.

“Fuck, ow.” Vaati panted, watching the scene in front of him wearily. Ganon was relentless in his attacks, but the Knight wasn’t deterred, moving fast and holding his own against the Gerudo almost effortlessly. _I wonder if this is how they all felt watching the hero battle me—wait—all? Who—?_

_In a distant memory, out at the edge of the highest point of a castle the mage looked over the town as he began the ritual, watching citizen gather in horror as the young sorcerer began to steal the life from their dear stone princess. One bell chimed, then two, then—before the third bell could chime, he heard cheers. A boy stood behind him, sword drawn, both the boy and boy’s hat glaring at him. Then the scene shifts, he’s flying, watching as four identical children make their way through his palace, the princess he’d just married watching the sight smugly._

_“He’s going to beat you up,” She smirked, “You know that, right?”_

_“Hush,” He growled, “I shall be the victor here.”_

_“Sure you will,” She giggled, “This totally won’t end the way the last tale of your evils did.”_

_“Of course not!” He hissed, “I’ve learned much since then!”_

_“Right,” She rolled her eyes, “And what exactly have you learned, hmm?”_

_“I—” The monster found himself at a loss for words, inwardly he could feel himself grow afraid as he couldn’t for the life of him remember what happened before, “Shut up, sleep now, I have a battle to win.”_

He was snapped back from his thoughts as he saw Ganon narrowly dodge a sword swing aimed directly for the heart, the slice grazing the larger man’s arm. Ganon was panting, looking more worn out than the Knight who was attacking him ruthlessly. _No._ The mage’s mind raced. _No, nonono, no! He can’t be beaten, not like this! I can’t let him be beaten like this!_ He let his mind go, trying to catch anything he could use as a plan as fast as he could. He himself was beat, tired as the magic around him began to sap at his energy. _Think, Vaati, think._ It was then, trapped, that he recalled his previous escape, how he’d managed it. He tried to concentrate, feeling the magic around him, feeling the flow of it as it left him and went into the Jewels. _There!_

“GRAB THE TRIDENT AND WIN GANON!” He screamed out, quickly catching the attention of both men before the Knight let out a scream, the Jewels around his neck crackling with an overflow of magic violently as Vaati poured his remaining strength into one big pulse of energy sent directly their way from him, shorting them out temporarily before falling limply to the ground. Ganon wasted no time, ducking behind the man and quickly finding the Trident. He turned back to the Red Knight, letting out a terrifying roar as he moved quickly upon him, using the magic of the Dark Trident to knock him back, quickly overpowering him with pure brute strength.

“How—?” The Knight looked up at him in fear as he was beaten down, “What are you?!”

“Ganondorf,” Ganon smirked as he held the Knight at Trident-point, “The King of Darkness.”

Magic rang out from the weapon and the Knight soon found himself unable to move. Ganon ripped the four gems from his neck, grinning as the man strained against the spell. He then summoned a thing of rope, quickly tying the man down before locking the rope in place around a tree. With the Knight subdued and the four Royal Jewels in hand, he quickly ran over to where Vaati lay, pulling the sorcerer into his arms and checking him over.

“Please be okay, please be okay.” Ganon muttered as he checked the man over, relieved that he was still breathing, and quickly got to work healing all of his injuries, using the power of the Trident to aid him.

“Hngh,” Red eyes slowly opened, looking up at Ganon lovingly as he placed a hand on the taller man’s cheek, “Hey, it worked.”

“Goddesses it did but please don’t you dare do that again.” Ganon kissed him deeply, holding him close as the mage kissed back, gently caressing the purple man’s cheek, “Guess what I won you.”

“What?” Vaati asked wearily, slowly awakening.

“I won you the keys to your old place, all of them.”

Vaati’s eyes widened as he sat up, looking directly at Ganon as the Gerudo grinned, eyes bright with joy, holding up all four Royal Jewels. Vaati gasped and covered his mouth, staring at the keys to his old home, the keys to the only place left in this world that would be familiar to him. Ganon gently wiped the tears out of Vaati’s eyes—tears that the mage hadn’t even realized he’d begun to shed.

“We’re nearby it,” Ganon said softly, “Do you want to go home, Vaati?”

The mage nodded, taking Ganon’s hand as he was helped up, pausing for a moment as he looked back at the Knight, letting out a teary-eyed chuckled, “Shouldn’t we do something about him first?”

“Nah,” Gan snickered, showing off the Trident, “He’ll be there for as long as I want him to be, the Trident’s magic is pretty powerful.”

Vaati laughed, hugging Ganon gleefully before the two made their way over to the nearby tower. Vaati looked at Ganon with a bit of apprehension in his eyes, worried that perhaps it wouldn’t work, perhaps it was too good to be true. Ganon gave Vaati’s hand a reassuring squeeze, gently placing all four Jewels in their place, watching as they began to glow. The doors themselves shook and opened, revealing the pathway up to the Palace of Winds. Vaati looked out at the first floor of his former home, feeling another wave of tears pricking the corners of his eyes, looking up at Ganon, filled with gratitude. Ganon smiled warmly, leading his partner up the stairs of the Tower of Winds, up to the Cloud Tops. Vaati took in the sight as they traversed the sky, nostalgia overwhelming him. They came up to the final cloud, looking at the front door of the Palace of Winds. Vaati waved his hand, creating a wind bridge across, leading Ganon over with him as the doors of the palace opened to welcome him. He felt a small sob escape his throat, only now realizing exactly how much he’d missed this place. Ganon pulled him into his arms, gently rubbing his back as he smiled, looking at Vaati’s Palace before turning his attention back to the man himself lovingly.

“Welcome home, Vaati.”


	9. Traitor

“Goddesses fuck me with a voltfruit,” Vaati swore as he examined the glowing stone in his hands, “How do I work this thing?!”

“Having trouble, old man?” Ganon’s voice rang through it, startling the mage.

“No—! Yes,” Vaati let out a sigh in defeat, “Shut up, am I using this thing correctly?”

“Yes, you are,” Ganon chuckled, “How is everything going?”

“Swimmingly,” Vaati smirked, “I’ve got one last maiden—red one I believe—to lock away and I should be done.”

“Excellent!” Ganon beamed, “After that we should—”

“ARE YOU TALKING TO DAD?!”

Vaati laughed as he heard Shadow Link’s voice ring through the other end of the stone, “Hey kiddo, how’re you doing now that you’ve got like a hundred other yous’ around?”

“DAD IT’S AMAZING!” He shrieked, “AND I LOVE ALL OF THE NEW WEAPONS I’M GETTING TOO, IT’S AWESOME!”

“Good to hear,” Vaati smiled, “Love you kiddo, put Ganondad on the line for me, will you?”

“Love you too dad! HEY POP—!”

“Goddesses that boy has so much energy,” Ganon shook his head with a smile, “I had to chase him down earlier and hide a fire rod from him near Lake Hylia; he almost lit the whole area on fire.”

“I’d ask why that would be a problem, buuuuut,” Vaati snickered, “I have a feeling there’s a good reason to leave the forest un-charred that I’m overlooking again.”

“That reason being our forces stationed there.” Ganon rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the smile that played on his lips at his partner’s absentminded tendencies.

“Oh yeah,” Vaati laughed, “Forgot about them for a moment.”

“Forgetting about something else, too.”

“What—” Vaati looked over at the Temple of Darkness and realization hit him like a truck, “OH SHIT, THAT’S WHAT I WAS FORGETTING!”

“Tsk, tsk,” Ganon smirked, “Going senile, my dear wind demon?”

“In your dreams sonny-boy,” Vaati played up the fake old man voice before breaking and laughing, “I’ll finish up here as soon as I can and let you know when I’m on my way home.”

“Let’s hope you don’t forget where home is, old man.” Ganon chuckled and Vaati blew a raspberry at the stone before putting it back in his pocket as the light dimmed. He sighed longingly, looking between the temple and unconscious maiden. _Goddesses how did I end up here—feeling the way I do—so goddess damned quickly?_ He sighed, shaking his head with a smile as he headed inside to greet the forces Ganon had already set up there. He was surprised to find a very old Moblin in cultist robes as the one to greet him, giving him a courteous bow upon his arrival into the temple.

“I don’t know if you quite remember me, as it’s been a long time, but,” She smiled, “It’s nice to see you again, Master Vaati.”

“I—” He paused, “I apologize, who are you and when did we meet?”

“Mauve, the Moblin Mage,” She smiled, “We met thousands of years ago, during the Picori Festival.”

“During the what now?”

“Ah, I figured your extensive time in the Four Sword would do quite a number on your memory again,” She sighed with a bemused laugh, “If you wish, Master Vaati, I could recount my memory of the events for you as we walk through this temple, we have time before we reach the end corridor.” 

“Sure, but—” Vaati coughed awkwardly, confused and disoriented, “You can just call me Vaati, no need to add the “Master” title to my name.”

“Of course.” She smiled warmly and led him through the temple, “So, what exactly do you recall, Vaati?”

“Ah, um,” Vaati rubbed the back of his head, looking around the temple as he tried to organize his thoughts, “Not much, I remember kidnapping and trying to marry a princess and then there was just one bit where I was trying to steal the life from another one while she’d been frozen in stone? Aside from that, I’d started out with just flashes of getting my ass kicked by green-clad children and kidnapping people for reasons I cannot remember.”

“Ah,” She stroked her chin, “That’s unfortunate. I do have quite a bit in my recollection of you, but perhaps I can run down the list after we’re done here. I can brew you some tea back at my hut.”

“That sounds nice, actually—wait,” Vaati groaned, “I promised Gan I’d head home after this is done with.”

“Hmm,” She thought, “Perhaps you could let him know that you’re going to grab something on your way back as a slight detour, I do have some nice wine I’d be more than happy to gift to you for helping be way back when.”

“I appreciate it, but,” Vaati sighed, “I can’t lie to him, even a little, I wouldn’t want to hurt him like that.”

“Oh,” She cocked an eyebrow, a knowing look on her face, “Found yourself another fancy I take it.”

“I—wha—you—!” Vaati’s cheeks lit bright red, “Perhaps! What’s it to you?!”

“Nothing at all, dear,” She giggled, “Just brings back memories of the last time you were free.”

“You were there?!” Vaati’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh, of course!” She beamed, “I make a point to seek you out whenever you’re free, as you can tell.”

“Why?”

“Well, I do owe you quite greatly,” She smiled, “Back when we’d first met, I had wanted to pursue something other than fighting and living as most Moblins did, I wanted a better life for myself. I was afraid—at first—when I’d asked you for help. But, you were kind, you had this knowing look in your eyes like you understood my plight. You helped teach me how to weave illusions and how to read as best as you could for the short time that we had. You got the ball rolling and I was able to learn just enough at the time to appear as a normal Hylian woman in low-light conditions. You were so proud when I got the hang of it. I kept studying the ways of magic and now here I am, a powerful mage myself.”

“I—I did that?”

“Oh, without hesitation,” She chuckled, “You seemed enthused to have an apprentice despite your young age back then.”

“Wait, you could tell the age of me even as a demon?” Vaati looked at her, astonished.

“My dear,” She looked up at him with concern, hand waiting to open the last door, “You were a Hylian then, you didn’t become a demon until after you’d entered the Four Sword I believe.”

“I—what—?” Vaati took a step back, heart pounding in his chest, “This—this form right here—this is me?”

“I believe so, but—” She gently took his hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze, “Let’s talk more about that over wine, yeah? You have work to attend to here, and a very handsome man to get back to.”

“I—” Vaati took a deep breath, trying to keep the newest information off of his mind, “Yeah, yeah okay.”

Mauve nodded, opening the door for him and letting him in, “Orders are that only Ganon, yourself, and anyone with either of your permissions be allowed into this room.”

“You can come in with me,” He chuckled, “I could use extra help for this one, if you’re up for it.”

Mauve smirked and nodded, entering in with him, both of them instantly distracted by the altar where the Dark Mirror had been when it rested here. Vaati had immediately recognized the inscriptions on it as being written in his native Hylian, and both he and Mauve began to read it.

_The Dark Mirror, the portal to the realm where the shadow dwells._

_In here lies the dark reflection of Hyrule and the key to the Triforce of Courage._

_For the safety of Hyrule, we have created the hero’s dark twin, for **only** their final defeat at the hands of the hero will they yield the last piece of the Triforce of Courage._

_Thus, it shall never fall into the hands of evil, for the shadow only lives if the hero is alive to cast it._

_May the goddesses have mercy on us all._

Vaati stood there, silently, for what felt like ages, reading the words over and over again, heart sinking at every word he read and reread, until he felt it could sink no further. The world around him seemed to fade, leaving just him and the altar. For once, his mind was blank. He couldn’t think, he could barely feel, all he could do was stare at the words in front of him. Then, in a flash of rage, he screamed and transformed, piercing the altar with a large claw as he did so. He hit it in the same spot repeatedly, trying and failing to keep the fire of anger going, before finally he transformed back and crumpled to the ground. He heaved out a sob, the hope he’d gained—the work they’d put in—the future he wanted for Ganon—all of that crumbled around him. Mauve moved by his side, trying to console the mage but Vaati couldn’t hear what she was saying, his mind was too clouded with grief. She got up and left his side, moving out of his sight. Vaati didn’t track where she went, but he could see the faint glow of magic illuminating from the direction she’d gone. The faint light accentuated what few engraved letters remained on the wall, causing the mage to focus on the following words:

“ _defeat_ ”

“ _alive_ ”

“ _mercy_ ”

_Perhaps—,_ He thought, _Perhaps, I could figure out how to break the news to Ganon, he would understand, wouldn’t he? … Am I even smart enough to convince him? What if this backfires? Will I even be able to protect Shadow? Goddesses, what if—_

“Vaati?”

“What—?” Vaati was snapped from his thoughts by Mauve’s gentle hand on his shoulder.

“I sealed the maiden,” She said, “Here, I can teleport us to my place near Lake Hylia, you look like you need some time to think, alright?”

Vaati sat there for a moment—trying to think it over but finding his mind too cluttered to think straight—before finally nodding, letting the wave of teleportation take him as he found himself sitting on the floor of a small hut in front of a small fireplace. Mauve put a new log in it and lit it with a simple cantrip before pulling up a seat next to the mage, waiting for a moment as he watched the fire burn, mind spiraling as he tried frantically to plan his next course of action. She could see the fear and uncertainty written in his eyes despite the self-control he exerted to keep his other features still. She let out a sigh, summoning a bottle of wine to her from her table and handing it to the mage. He regarded the bottle with a jolt, mind stilling for just a moment before he looked up at her with a questioning gaze.

“Here,” She sighed, “Stop thinking so much, you’ll run yourself ragged, again.” 

“Again?” He opened the bottle and drank from it, “You said you knew me, yeah? Tell me about that—please.”

“You were—goddesses I don’t know how to describe it,” She couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her lips as she took a sip from the bottle Vaati passed her before passing it back to him, “You were phenomenal, you broke the sword trapping us monsters and your only demand of us was that we not disturb your search. You let those of us who followed you keep the rewards we obtained and even gave us the money you came across. You took Hyrule Castle on your own, pushed the Hylians out, let us take refuge inside—gave us shelter and food. You treated us with respect—all of us—and when the time came to repay your favor you merely asked for those willing to defend your castle as you tried to perform the ritual—”

“Ritual?”

“The **Force Stealing Ritual** ,” She shook her head with a smile, both her and the demon taking a drink from the bottle as she recounted her time with the sorcerer in front of the fireplace, “Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of pretty much every monster in your arsenal, the green clad boy defeated you. I was a bit late—I’ll admit, as the next time we met you’d just stolen Princess Zelda as your “wife” and had no memory of your life prior.”

“What—” Vaati hesitated for a moment, “What happened then? Between myself and Zelda?”

“Quite stubborn that one was,” Mauve smiled as she recounted the past princess fondly, “As far as my memories went you’d both taken to playing chess—between banter about the hero, of course—but you’d only ever left your demon form once around me—after you’d put her to sleep to ready your mind for the arrival of the hero. It was jarring, to see you so concerned and unfamiliar with a half-Hylian, half-Demon form. There were no words anyone could speak to calm you, so I took to the next best thing and gave you my bottle of vintage milk to ease your nerves. It seems as though it’s a habit you’ve carried with you through the sword, among others.”

“Others?” Vaati shot up from his slouched state, “What—What habits? Tell me!”

“Your eyes,” She faced him, their eyes meeting, her eyes soft and without judgment, Vaati’s own eyes full of fear, “They give away your true feelings on any matter; you rub the back of your head when you’re even the slightest bit nervous; your go-to emotion is anger; you’re easily distracted; I could go on but as per usual, I do believe I have long since overwhelmed you.”

“I’m not overwhelmed—!” He blurted out, so focused on that last line that it took a moment for the rest of her words to finally catch up with him, running around his brain faster than he could catch them. He took the bottle from Mauve, drinking down the rest of its contents before speaking, “—I’m just trying to assess the new information being presented to me, that’s all.”

“Ah, yes,” She held in a knowing smirk, “Of course, Vaati.”

“Yes, now,” Vaati got up with a light wobble, dusting himself off, “Where is that bottle of wine you’d promised?”

“Oh!” She got up, moving over to a small chest near her kitchen, opening it and pulling out a pristine bottle of wine, “Here, let me know if there is anything else you need.”

“I—” He looked at the bottle for a moment, “I have—perhaps—one favor.”

“Yes?”

“Could you—” He sighed, “Could you possibly look after the hero? If he _does_ actually manage to _die_ —knowing my luck—Shadow Link will die as well and I—I can’t—I won’t—I—”

“Of course.” She interrupted without a second thought, a gentle smile on her lips, “Now, you get out of here—try to sober up a bit before returning to Ganon, though, alright?”

“I—yes! Thank you!” Vaati gave her a curt nod before exiting her hut, walking through the forest—careful to avoid the sight of anyone else out at this time. He didn’t want to talk to Ganon just yet, he needed a plan before he did that. The stone in his pocket had yet to rumble or speak so he figured he had some time left, so he wandered through the forest as he tried to organize his thoughts. He had just about settled on a plan—a _brilliant_ plan, or so he thought in his alcohol clouded mind—when he’d heard the faint sound of raspy breathing. Curiously, he approached the sound, wondering if perhaps one of Ganon’s number had been injured. The sight before him—however—was not what he was expecting, nor was it something he’d been prepared for. Before him lay his greatest enemy, the foe that had bested him time and time again. Right before his very eyes laid Link, four of the little bastard to be correct, barely holding onto life after the great fall he’d suffered. Vaati’s mind stopped entirely, his thoughts coalescing into one horrifying amalgam that he could not make sense of even if he tried to. He approached the unconscious child, gears turning at rapid speed in his head, everything hitting the mage once again as it had in the Temple of Darkness. Vaati wanted to hate the boy—he desperately wanted to hate the boy—but he couldn’t find it in him to focus his anger at the child. His mind was working overtime to desperately pull his thoughts in the direction he’d prefer but such efforts were wasted. He couldn’t look at the pained face of this kid, a perfect replica of his own son, and wish ill will upon him. He cursed himself, heart beating rapidly in his chest in fear, mind screaming that there would be no undoing his next decision—

—And he healed the hero back to full health before taking off for the Palace of Winds, his actions unknown to all but one lone creature—watching the mage from the darkness. 


End file.
